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The Orlando Sentinel In today's Sentinel: Brevard Calendar, your Space Coast datebook Thursday, December 22, 1988 mbrevard II CALENDAR 0 0 Bullae Fuels plant Dad wants freedom by Christmas By Constance Johnson OF THE SENTINEL STAFF will foe safe at Dort ifci- i Allen Rose By Cory Jo Lancaster OF THE SENTINEL STAFF Opponents, including homeowners, Cape Canaver-il city officials and Cape View advisory board members, say they support the facility but want satellites fueled at the launch pad, not at the port. Developers and their consultants will respond in writing to the concerns and questions within 60 days, Smith said. Port Commissioner Sue Ford and Cape Canaveral Mayor Joy Salamone said they want to know more about the fuels, what could happen if workers spilled them and how long nearby areas would have to evacuate. A hotel and convention center, along with more cruise ships, eventually will be built next to the facility, Ford said. Cruise ships now dock about a half mile away.

"It seems very dangerous to have those kinds of fuels that close to so many people," Ford said. "The people at NASA who handle these fuels use spacesuits." Please see SAFE, D-14 DAYTONA BEACH James Richardson, convicted 21 years ago in the death of one of his seven children and accused of murdering all seven, wants Gov. Bob Martinez to grant him a Christmas wish: freedom. Richardson, 52, continually has denied killing the children. His clemency request, sparked by what his attorneys said is new evidence, has been in the governor's office for nearly nine weeks.

A decision may not be reached until next month. Any action by the governor to free Richardson would require the approval of at least three Cabinet members. CAPE CANAVERAL The builder of a $20 million satellite processing facility at Port Canaveral defended its safety Wednesday amid protests that highly toxic fuels for the private satellites should not be used near homes, schools and cruise ships. Port authority commissioners last month granted a 50-year lease on 18 acres at State Road 401 and Grouper Road for the facility. But cries from homeowners many with children who attend Cape View Elementary School lVi miles away forced developers to come back and respond to safety questions.

"It will be the safest and best of its kind or we won't build it," said Gene Smith of Eastern American Teak, which will build the plant and lease it to private companies. "The concerns of the community are real. Some are correct. Some are not. The fear tactics being used by some would frighten me." PHOTOTOM MEDLEY Richardson says he didn't poison his 7 children in 1967.

"I'd like not to be here Christmas Day," Richardson said during a news conference at the Tomoka Correctional Institution. "I'd like to visit my family I hope they can look into the situation as quickly as possible." Richardson was flanked by his Please see DAD, D-14 Indialantic fires 40 officials Town council decides to shake up the system By Cory Jo Lancaster AT OF THE SENTINEL STAFF 1 5U 'ft 1 3 INDIALANTIC Letters will be sent to 40 town officials today telling them they are fired as of Dec. 31. Town council members voted 3 to 2 Tuesday night to ask for the resignations of all members of town boards and committees, except the Code Enforcement Board, Police Pension Board and Civil Service Board. They also voted 3 to 2 to fire the building inspector.

The letters will be sent to members and alternates of the Planning and Zoning Board, Board of Adjustment, Budget and Finance Committee, Parks and Recreation Board and Comprehensive Planning Committee, town manager Ed Gross said. Members of those groups also will receive applications to reapply if they wish, town officials said. "The purpose is to rotate membership on the boards and get new people in," said recently elected council member Ralph Vander Meulen, who voted for the measure. "We invite every member to reapply. We just want a different philosophy of operation in the town." BREVARD AT LARGE Century-old Melbourne has some stories to tell Taking the cake.

Melbourne is 100 years old today. But there won't be a big parade or a cake or a lot of hoopla. This happens when you're old enough to remember the Johnstown flood. The city has been celebrating its centennial all year but it was on Dec. 22, 1888, that the city was incorporated.

There will be a party and dance at 8 p.m. at the Melbourne Auditorium, mostly for city employees and volunteers. Melbourne historians Fred Hop-wood and Weona Cleveland have written a 205-page book, published last week by the city's centennial committee, which traces Melbourne life through the years. It is on sale at City News Stand on New Haven Avenue and in the purchasing department at city hall. Here are a few tidbits from it: About a fellow named DeGraff ran a jewelry store with a large clock in the front window.

George Hopkins owned the Union Cypress lumber mill. Each day at noon, the mill's steam whistle blew. People set their watches by it The two men were talking one day at the post office. The mill owner said he always knew precisely when to blow the whistle because he set his watch by the jeweler's clock. And the jeweler said he kept his clock ticking right on the minute because he always set it when the mill whistle went off.

Forty telephones were installed in 1906, Melbourne's first. Immediately, business people started bickering over who would be assigned the number 1. No seven-digit dialing in those days. Tropical Telephone Company solved the problem: number 1 was kept out of service. In 1919, fire destroyed at least nine buildings, most of Melbourne's business district, on Front Street.

Melbourne firefighters had to find a car to tow its fire engine. The fire was too hot to go down Front Street, so they tore down a fence and dragged the engine through lots behind the stores. Then they sent for help from Eau Gallie firefighters. D.C. Johnson, who owned the only car in Eau Gallie, started towing the pumper but as he was going over the Eau Gallie River bridge the pumper broke loose and fell into the river.

Upshot: New Haven Avenue soon became Melbourne's main business district. You might say that the city's political life developed slowly in the early years. In 1888, there were 22 registered voters in Melbourne. By 1913, 56 voters were on the rolls. In 1897, Richard Goode became the postmaster.

At one time, he was Melbourne's only Republican. I can imagine his wife's reaction: "Oh, for pity's sake, Richard. What will the neighbors say?" In 1900, the city celebrated Washington's birthday. Everybody turned out. Literally.

The entire populace of Melbourne had its pic-ture taken in front of tjie Idlewylde Hotel. fl In 1883, tracks of the Florida East Coast Railroad were extended to Melbourne by tycoon Henry Flagler. The first passenger train arrived July 3. The first person ever to detrain in Melbourne was O.W. Bonter.

But some say O.W. cheated. He got on in Eau Gallie and jumped off in Melbourne before the train came to a stop. E.P. Branch arrived in Melbourne in 1886 and became one of its leading citizens.

Several pages of the centennial book are devoted to his narrative of the city's early days. He wrote: "In 1894, I was cashier, receiving teller, paying teller and janitor of the First Melbourne State Bank. Evidently, it did not look as much like a bank as it might have. A woman came in one day wanting to know if we had cabbage plants." Branch told her the bank could give her no cabbage that day. Some things never change.

BARBARA VTTAUANOSENT1NEL Digging up barrels in Longwood Workers delicately handle a barrel dug up from behind the public were empty, ordered the barrels buried in October to free up stor- works building in Longwood on Wednesday. The 8 unearthed bar- age space. One barrel contained dried yellow-striping paint, and rels will be tested for contaminants. A city official, believing they city officials said they were waiting to hear what else was found. But other council members Please see FIRED, D-13 Muller gets 412 years in highway shooting Tourists get their own TV channel By Wesley Loy OF THE SENTINEL STAFF By Lance Oliver i.

OF THE SENTINEL STAFF It MOUNT DORA Highway shooting suspect Robert Edward Muller Jr. will be sentenced to 4Vi years in prison under terms of a plea bargain approved by a circuit judge Wednesday. In a surprise move, Muller and his Umatilla attorney, Michael Hatfield, came to Circuit Judge Jerry Lockett's office Wednesday morning and said that Muller was ready to enter a plea. The victim, 21-year-old Stewart, nearly died after be ing shot in the neck with a i caliber handgun March 19. She continues to undergo therapy sev I eral times a week at a head-injury clinic at Florida Hospital Orlando.

I She declined to comment Wednesday, but Shirley Yates, mother of Stewart's boyfriend, said a 4-year prison term was not -a "A KISSIMMEE It's midnight in the city. A couple from Dubuque, Iowa, settle into their hotel room. But their minds are troubled by the age-old questions of weary travelers: What time does Sea World open? Will it rain tomorrow? Where will they turn for answers? Presenting The Tourist Channel, a first-of-its-kind broadcasting venture based in Kissimmee but aimed at people from all over the world. The station's manager plans to hit the air in a couple of months, providing 24-hour information for Central Florida's 12.8 million annual visitors. "All tourism all the time," said Rick Namey, general manager of the UHF station.

"Kind of a cross between CNN Headline News and the Weather Channel." The station plans to go by the call letters WTTC "We're The Tourist Channel," Namey said, and will broadcast on Channel 19. The parent company, Specialty Broadcasting Corp. of Orlando, Please see TV, D-14 satisfactory. Muller "That's terrible," she said. "Cassandra is just like one of my kids, and for the rest of her life she will never be Cassandra again.

She can't hold a job now. She can't even drive." Yates said Stewart is able to care for her 2-year-old son, Carlos, but suffers vision and hearing problems on her left side as a result of the bullet's damage. Her speech is sometimes slurred, and she can't walk long without tiring. Glenn Klausman, an Altamonte Springs attorney representing Stewart in a civil lawsuit against Muller, expressed surprise Wednesday when told of the plea bargain by a reporter. DAVID POLLERSENTINEL Sodas, snacks and Santa Alice Jackson's hot dog stand is a fa- Wednesday, as Rick Domer of Orlando miliar sight on U.S.

Highway 441 north discovers while he waits for lunch, of Lee Road in Orange County. But her Jackson, of Fern Park, says she dons Santa costume adds a new twist costumes on Halloween and Easter. Please see MULLER, D-13.