The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 23

2 3 People 3 0 Sports 14 Opinion 4 0 Classified 15 Seniors 3 2ZQCorpnnjinity poles 2t Now times Here are the times Lake schools will start Page 12 Funky stores Old-timey souvenir shops are doing well Page 23 Here's help New hospice program designed to 'fill cracks' Page 3 SUNDAY, JULY 19, 1998 An Edition of The Orlando Sentinel 1998 Orlando Sentinel Communications Company uDft UWSIIM Nature's green is good for business Turn down the volume and let the EAR do its job. EAR stands for Evaluation and Appraisal Report, a tool for suggesting improvements to the county's growth plan. In Lake County, a large group of citizen volunteers milters mi arena Judge: Family may seek punitive damages By Rich McKay ivy III! met to participate in this process. Their ideas are now part of the EAR, which will be studied by county planning and zoning officials, as well as county commissioners, before it goes on OF THE SENTINEL STAFF LAW FRONT the stench of the uncleaned wounds as "like roadkill," and says they contributed to his suffering and death in October 1996. The elder Boswell, despite the mind fog of Alzheimer's disease that left him believing that his son was his brother Dick, never lost his dignity but instead had his dignity taken from him, the suit says.

"He was a proud man," the younger Boswell said. "My dad took care of me, and I took care of him for 19 years. I loved the man. Please see NEGLECT, 7 his squad car to people in need, was often left unfed at the Leesburg Nursing Center, states the wrongful death lawsuit filed in the 5th Judicial Circuit Court in Tavares by his family in July 1997. Food and water were placed 8 feet away, his son, John E.

Boswell Jr. of Yala-ha, claims impossible for his father to reach as he lay at times naked in his own filth. Meanwhile, untreated bedsores ate through the elder Boswell's body, the suit states. A former nursing home employee's af-fidavit that is filed with the suit describes LEESBURG John E. Boswell Sr.

died last July, three days shy of his 96th birthday, in what his family calls a nursing home nightmare of neglect and bungled treatment that nobody deserved, especially a proud retired police detective. Last week, a Lake County court issued a ruling in his family's lawsuit against the nursing home that could propel the suit into deep-monied legal waters. Boswell, who once carried groceries in STEPHEN M. DOWELUTHE ORLANDO SENTINEL Charging neglect. John Boswell Jr.

holds a portrait of his father. Boswell is suing the home where his father died. All Star coaches next generation Major leaguer helps youth learn the game By Robert Pincus SENTINEL CORRESPONDENT mrr; J- UMATILLA Chet Lemon doesn't want to be remembered as a major league All Star for the Detroit Tigers. He'd like people to recognize him for helping youths as president of the Amateur Athletic Union program in Florida. "I never pulled that 'major league' stuff on anybody," said Lemon, who is putting the finishing touches on his mammoth home on Lake Dalhousie.

"What I did then is then. Now, I'm a regular person who has knowledge of the game." Lemon, 43, might not bring it up too often, but he was a three-time All Star and won a World Series with the Detroit Tigers in 1984. During his 16-year major league career, he hit .273 and knocked 215 homers out of the yard. But he has moved on to helping Florida youth. Lemon also is Florida's AAU baseball and basketball chairman and his wife, Gigi, is the treasurer for the program.

Both volunteer their time to AAU. "I'm responsible for 15,000 athletes," Chet Lemon said. "I love the responsibility and I enjoy working with youngsters." In five years, Lemon has built the AAU baseball program in Florida from seven teams to more than 5,000 players this past season. "This has become the largest AAU program in the1 country," Lemon said. "It's my baby and I take great pride in the organization." The Lemons have their own baby girl, 7-week-old Brianna, along with two sons, David, 16, and Marcus 10.

When they're not busy with family responsibilities, they're occupied with AAU. To build up amateur baseball in Florida, Chet. Lemon has created events, such as the AAU Fall Classic. He coaches teams in four age groups' through the Chet Lemon Baseball School in Lake; Mary. to Tallahassee.

Land-use attorney Cecelia Bonifay, pumping up the volume in a memo to home builders and others, says the EAR suggestions "reflect a very anti-development and anti-business bias." That depends on what you think is good for business. If the county does not have a good plan for managing growth, the result will be more urban sprawl. Urban sprawl is bad for business because it is bad for the quality of life in Lake County. When sprawl goes unchecked: More people are hurt and killed on dangerous roads and intersections. More concrete covers the earth, more pollution damages the water and fewer trees survive.

More strip development fills the countryside; fewer songbirds fill the air. More taxes are needed to pay for new roads, police, fire protection, schools and utilities. It's a drag if every day you have to risk your life driving back and forth to work on crowded roads. Bonifay's memo says there are no "data or analysis" showing strip development creates a traffic problem. Here's one way to get some traffic data in Lake County: Roll down the car window at rush hour and take a whiff of the exhaust along U.S.

Highways 441 and 27. Here's another: Count the crashes with every rainfall because traffic is bumper to bumper and drivers can't stop. The memo also complains that the EAR study wants to eliminate industry in the flood plain area. What's wrong with that? There is plenty of high land available to industry, along with a county industrial park that offers friendly service and good utilities. Why would the county want industry where, sooner or later, it is going to flood? Another part of the memo reports that the EAR study wants to designate three more Lake County streets as scenic roadways.

I think scenic roadways are a good thing. The two we have now Lake-shore Drive along Lake Dora from Ta-vares to Mount Dora and Lakeshore Drive along Lake Eustis between Ta-vares and Eustis are gorgeous. The EAR citizens group wants to add: East Crooked Lake Drive from U.S. 441 to Country Club Drive in Eustis. Lakeshore Drive from Hook Street to the Palatlakaha Bridge along Lake Minnehaha in Clermont.

Lakeshore Drive from Washington Street to County Road 561a along Lake Minneola in Minneola. Maintaining the character of these scenic roads will, in the long haul, help maintain the character of Lake County. Nadine Foley, vice chairwoman of the citizens EAR group, said the smart way to grow is to locate newcomers as closely as possible to the services needed to sustain them. Keep people out of places where they are going to be flooded, where they will create traffic hazards or destroy open vistas. Over time, she stressed, a green and beautiful Lake County offers the best kind of place for people to live and work.

It also offers a better place for outdoor sports and recreation. "It's good for the current residents, it fulfills the reason why people came here, and it will make an environment that will continue to be attractive," she said. The next EAR meeting will be Please see ARCHER, 7 TOM BENITEZmHE ORLANDO SENTINEL and his wife, Gigi, volunteer with the Amateur Athletic Union. Lemon is AAU baseball and basketball chairman. At home.

Chet Lemon and his son David relax in the weight room of their house on Lake Dalhousie. Lemon Please see LEMON, 14 mi i ut-nuu. jinny ii i Hiker's handbook shares trail lore For winner, triathlons reflect life Gatorade champ Glenn Peroni will compete in the World Championships in Switzerland in August. By Monica Scott OF THE SENTINEL STAFF Retiree Joan Hobson has gone the distance the Florida Trail's 1,060 miles and offers tips in a new book. By Ramsey Campbell OF THE SENTINEL STAFF 1,060 miles of it.

Still incomplete, the Florida Trail winds from Big Cypress National Preserve south of Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf Islands National Seashore in the Panhandle. Because there are still gaps in the trail route, Hobson walked along sections of highway to complete the journey. The trek took 94 days. She and a fellow hiker, Susan Roquemore, wrote a book about the adventure, called Here to There On the Florida Trail, A Companion Guide for Long Distance Hikers that came out in January of this year. "We sold out the first edition of 100 copies right away," said Hobson, who said they are into their second printing and planning a third edition now.

Roquemore, Cedar Key resident who has hiked the Appala- CLERMONT Joan Hobson is a dedicated long distance hiker the Lake County great-grandmother has backpacked 3,058 miles over the last six years. That's the equivalent of walking from the 67-year-old retired nurse's Clermont home to Seattle, Wash. "I love it," said Hobson, a native New Englander who took up the sport in 1992. Two years ago she became the first person to walk the entire HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS Grove-land's Glenn Peroni said it is great to come out of a challenge with a smile and sense of achievement. The Leesburg firefighter was the overall winner of Saturday's Gatorade Triathlon Series that challenged more than 400 to swim one mile, bike for 27 miles and then run five more.

"Triathlons reflect a lot of what life Please see SPORT, 5 JULIE FLETCHERTHE ORLANDO SENTINEL Florida footpath. Joan Hobson and fellow hiker Susan Roquemore of Cedar Key have written about walking the Florida Trail. The trek took 94 days. Please see BOOK, 7 length of the Florida Trail all,.