Fort Lauderdale News from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 30

2B Fort Lauderdale News. Monday, March 10, 1980 Diplomat credits city's 'aggressive attitude' Fort Lauderdale's in running for Canadian office By James J. Hobmajj Mali Writer Fort Lauderdale's "aeeressive attttude" toward at tracting foreign business has placed it in strong conten tion for a branch office ot tne Canadian Consulate General in Atlanta, a Canadian diplomatic official said. In an interview with The News, Consul Genera! Halph Stewart said he planned to ask Canadian officials during a trip to Ottawa soon for permission to serve Canadians through a Florida office. An answer could come this month Canada Florida trade is growing 20 percent annually, and in South Florida the figure is 30 to 40 percent.

In outlining the reasons why a Canadian consular office is needed in Florida, Stewart said the business and tourist partnership is just being tapped. And the dojlars being generated in South Florida will play a major role as trading expands, he said. Miami, Stewart added, is becoming more oriented toward the South American and Caribbean markets, while Fort Lauderdale and Broward appear more interested in Canadian business. Beginning this spring, Stewart said he will sponsor day-long seminars in various Florida cities to acquaint local businessmen with Canadian business leaders. Fort Lauderdale is scheduled for this fall.

With a foreign trade zone at Port Everglades, a central location to a Gold Coast Canadian population and major highways. Fort Lauderdale has few disadvantages compared to Miami, the consul general said. "The only thing you really need is non-stop flights to Canada" from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Stewart said. said. Putting the consular office in this area would make sense, he said.

"Miami would like us. But they think we should move the entire consulate down here," Stewart said. The Atlanta office handles Canadian business and tourist and immigration matters for seven southeastern states and Puerto Rico. Although Canadian-U S. business dealings are equally divided among the major industrial and commercial centers in the state.

South Florida produces the majority of tourist and immigration inquiries that reach Atlanta, Stewart explained. Florida's relations with Canada are worth billions of dollars annually, he said. Of the $7 billion Canada spends annually in the United Slates, $1 billion comes to the southeastern states and more than half to Florida. "That doesn't include the millions of dollars Canadians spend on condominiums," Stewart said, nor the approximate $900 million Florida's Canadian visitors pump into the economy every year. Canadian and S.

firms, a consular office would be of invaluable aid to Florida's Canadian visitors and residents, he said. Stewart wouldn't say exactly where he would like the "mini consulate" located, but indicated Fort Lauderdale has a good shot at landing its first foreign government office. "Fort Lauderdale and Orlando both are anxious for us to open the office there. Of course, if the people want you in their city, that's a big consideration," he said. "Orlando is centrally located.

The people there are quite right when they say it. They're close to everything But they're far from everything as well," Stewart said "Jacksonville is an important city. We do a lot of business there. But it's far from everywhere else in Florida. A Canadian might as well go to Atlanta as Jacksonville.

I don't think putting the office there would be too good an idea," he said. Southeast Florida particularly the stretch from north Dade through south Broward hosts the heaviest concentrations of Canadians in the state, Stewart Stewart An estimated two million Cana dians spend time in Florida yearly, including 300,000 or more living here full time, Stewart said In the Hollywood Dania area alone, the consul general said, about 60,000 Canadians reside year-round In addition to expanding business deals between Bulletin board lor tomorrow IVrforntanci's The Westminister Adult Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. John C'anf it-Id, will be in concert at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, 5555 Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale, tomorrow night at 8 The orchestra will perform works by Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Wagner and Saint-Saens, with artist William Knight as guest pianist. The concert is open to the public, with complementary tickets available at the reception desks at Westminster Academy or the church. ff ha 7 ii mfsf.

'if Magician Jeff Arnold, will present a St. Patrick's Day magic program at the Miramar branch library, 2601 SW 66th Terrace, tomorrow from 3 30 to 4 p.m. Youngsters of all ages are invited to join the fun, free of charge, courtesy of the Broward County library system. Please pre-registcr, since limited space allows only 25 children. Bailiffs shed tourist look, get new duds By James De Graci Staff Writer The Miami Beach tourist look is out for bailiffs in the Broward County Courthouse.

They will adopt a more professional look when they unveil their green blazers tomorrow. "The sheriff is trying to professionalize the organization," said a spokesman for Sheriff Robert Butte rworth. Beginning tomorrow morning, the 65 bailiffs who provide security for the judges and transport inmates from the jail to the courtrooms for trial will be wearing green blazers, white shirts, black pants and black ties. It cost approximately $8,000, about $130 a person, to outfit each bailiff with one jacket, two pairs of pants, three shirts, a tie and sufficent patches and brass collar pins to identify them as members of the sheriff's department. The new outfits in the department's colors of forest green and white will be a lot tamer than the wild outfits worn occasionally by some of the bailiffs.

"Some of them looked like Miami Beach vacationers with red jackets, checkered pants and white shoes," said one observer of the courthouse fashion scene. Michael Fufidio, administrator of court services for the sheriff's department, said the new uniform for the bailiffs is part of the department's attempt to upgrade the job. Fufidio said the department has begun a 40-hour training course for the bailiffs stressing security at the courthouse and proper firearms Films Tuesday is film night at the Fort Lauderdale branch library, 1300 E. Sunrise Blvd. Bridge on the River Kwai will be shown in two parts, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

tomorrow. n'el you Thy fhkiiifiikmmnifft'-tmi in -fir' Staff photo by CARL SEIBERT The economic crunch hurts all of us, and those non-profit agencies providing services to needy clients need volunteer assistance now more than ever. The Volunteer Action Center, a United Way agency, matches up willing volunteers with the agency indicating it needs help. The center is located at 1300 S. Andrews Fort Lauderdale, and is open fromBDO a.m.

to 4 30 p.m. for walk-in visits. Here are some openings this week; Clerical assistance has been requested in Dania and Hollywood. Volunteer parents are needed to house, feed and provide supervision for a few days a week for children who are runaways or are having problems at home. A Hallandale child care center has requested volunteers to assist with cooking for about 100 children, teachers aides to help children with dressing, eating and working with learning and reaching materials, and a handyman to help maintain the grounds and repair toys and equipment.

Homework assistants are needed in the afternoons in the Collier City area. Instructors In dance and exercise programs are needed at a mental health facility in the Fort Lauderdale area. And there are more where those came from; one of them is probably near your neighborhood. Check it out with the VAC by calling 522-6761. Pompano Highlands fireman Ed Sullivan struggles to douse a blaze that roared through a north Pompano Beach warehouse last night, causing an estimated $600,000 in damage.

Most of the damage was centered in a storage facility used by the Ethan Allen furniture company. The fire is believed to have started in a dumpster, and an investigation is under way. County to set standards for bus routes Condo conversion a traumatic experience The commission is expected to set a workshop in the next month or two to go through each of the committee's recommendations. Key to the committee's report is a financial commitment to improve the county's bus system. Among the report's recommendations are a $40 million bond issue, a sales tax increase and a bus fare increase.

Thompson said he has favored adding one penny to the gasoline tax to raise revenues for immediate improvements. The county has 106 buses on the road each weekday. In other related transportation matters tomorrow, the commission is expected to. approve the continuation of Hallandale's tram service and the countywide handicab service. Transit officials reported an average of 14,000 people are using the free tram service each week and it apparently has not drawn riders away from county buses in the area.

The handicab program provides prearranged transportation for handicapped people in Broward. By James De Graci Staff Writer For the first time, the Broward Mass Transit Division will establish standards to determine when bus routes should be discontinued. Don Monroe, director of the division, said "routes showing revenues for three consecutive months below 25 cents per mile will be reviewed in detail." That detailed review will include a survey of the riders to determine the actual number of passengers, the demographic breakdown of the passengers, the ratio of passengers per hour compared with passengers per mile, the number of people using transfers and the purposes of the trip. The review will take into account the schedule of the bus. Poor route planning was a major criticism of the division contained in a recent blue-ribbon committee report on the county's troubled bus system.

The County Commission is expected to discuss both standards for routes and the citizen's committee report tomorrow. County Commssioner Gerald Thompson said the board should look to maximize revenues on the bus routes. "We ought to get the biggest bang for the buck," he said, in operating a system that has an annual deficit in excess of $8 mllion. Thompson said the federal Urban Mass Transit Administration, which has been financing half of that deficit in Broward, is pulling back some of its funding support for mass transit systems throughout the country. For example, UMTA this year has approved $3.7 million to help Broward offset an anticipated $8.6 million operating deficit, according to a report from the Mass Transit Division.

County property tax revenues will fund the rest of the deficit. Getting the bus system on better financial footing was a major recommendation in the long-awaited Mass Transit Blue-Ribbon Citizen's Committee report. The report will be presented to the commission tomorrow. The report was completed in January after six months of study. It was highly critical of the bus system and recommended a major overhaul.

condominium in Margate. Others are planning to move into hotels. The tenants of the 375-unlt apartment complex are battling each other to find rentals in a marketplace where the vacancy rate Is less than half a percent. Municipalities are trying to help residents forced out by condo conversions, says Mrs. Youngstein.

But the notice extensions and moratoriums are only buying time. "Are things going to be different In three months? Are there going to be more apartments?" she asks. She sums up her feelings with this analogy. "When you spray a kitchen or room for roaches and bugs, all of them scurry in different directions looking for a place to hide. "We were sprayed and we're all running.

They treated us like animals." Continued from page IB would most likely triple. No prices have been distributed to the tenants by the new owner, Daon Corp. However, estimates are circulating that the spacious apartment would sell for around $100,000. Mrs. Voungstein said she emphatically told the representative from the Daon Corp.

what she plans to do. "I do not want to buy and I will not buy. I am looking for a place to rent," she said. The conversion was the topic of conversation for weeks at the Hallmark Apartment. Plenty of talking still goes on in the ornate lobby, but Mrs.

Voungstein says no one asks, "Where will you go?" Few have the answer, she said. One woman she knows bought a Inmate tries suicide; 9 court delays blamed to enter cell 51-E after the 6:30 p.m. incident. Jail Chief Verne Thornton said the episode pointed out the need for a hospital facility for Inmates who require observation. "It's a classic case of jailers having to take care of a prisoner with special problems," Thornton said through a Jail spokesman.

Crolius said the prisoner had been issued the razor in a kit of toilet items supplied to prisoners believed tb be stable. Williams was returned to a section of the jail known to guards as a "good cell," where prisoners cooperate with guards, Crolius said. He said the cell would be patrolled every 15 minutes. Authorities, last night still were searching for the razor blade, i Fort Lauderdale, on charges of forging a prescription, robbery and violating probation, Crolius said. A case of hepatitis caused some of the court delays, Crolius said, but "delays in the legal system" also occurred.

Described as a small, slightly built man, the 5-foot-6 prisoner became extremely violent when deputies tried Parents quizzed after baby's found alone By Jim Rogers Staff Writer A Broward County Jatl inmate who reportedly told cellmates he was depressed because his court date had been delayed nine times was rushed to the hospital last night after he cut his wrists with a razor blade, a police spokesman said. Darrell Lynn Williams was treated at Broward General Medical Center, where he underwent X-rays to determine if he swallowed the razor blade, as authorities initially believed. The tests showed he bad not. Williams, whose 20th birthday was Saturday, told authorities he was also depressed because his 16-year-old sister, his only relative in the area, had not contacted him for several weeks, a spokesman said. "Because his birthday was only the day before, It might have had an effect," said sheriff's department spokesman George Crolius.

Williams, described as an admitted drug addict by authorities, had been picked up Oct. 17 at 608 Vt SE 19th 20 cities face local issues Continued from page IB Oakland Park voters face a referendum on closing hours for local bars. Parkland will decide a mayor's race, two City Commission seats, a City Charter amendment and a taxation referendum. Pembroke Pines voters will pick a mayor and three city commissioners In addition to deciding 12 charter amendments and a property tax referendum. Pompano Beach voters will consider 10 charter amendments, two referendums and annexation.

Sea Ranch Lakes will fill three Village Council seats. Sunrise voters will consider a revised City Charter. Tamarac voters will ponder three City Charter amendments and choose one City Council member. Wilton Manors voters will gee their first contested mayoral race In 12 years and will choose three City Council members. body we talked with," Officer Balcunas said.

While a physician examined little Billy, the policemen waited in the hall to make sure the child was all right. "When we left, Billy was smiling," said Balcunas, "and he seemed pretty happy." Balcunas said he would report the Incident as a case of child abuse, for lack of any other appropriate official category, and that he would describe the child as "abandoned." Continued from page IB and that In the meantime the hospital could do nothing. "We don't keep diapers and baby food at a police station," Campbell said. The police sergeant said he next called two personal friends who work for HRS. "Both said they weren't working and to call someone else," he said.

Calls went out next to the Pompano Beach Youth Center and the state's Youth Services Division In Tallahassee. "Basically, they were sympathetic, but they gave us the run-around," Campbell said. Finally, as the clock neared 2 a.m. almost four hours after the officers' shift ended another call was made to Broward General. This time the policemen talked with Nursing Supervisor Debbie Pender, who agreed to forget about red tape and give Billy a bed In the hospital's pediatric unit.

"She was the most helpful of any.