South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 23

HF Sun-Sentinel, Sunday, August 27, 1989 33 Gator hunt draws vets and novices Bureau to lock out drivers Paying fines at night no longer an option f. By NEIL SANTANIELLO Staff Writer A half-hour before sunset on Friday the ritual begins again. Boats will creep out onto 24 lakes and rivets across Florida in the fading evening light. When darkness descends, bright beams of light will bounce across the; water and slice through reed-lined banks in search of the evening's formidable prey: alligators. The hunters will run the gamut of experience, from veteran trappers and alligator farmer with scars to show for their to thrill-seeking novices a dentist, an accountant, a tatoo artist.

Some will have no more preparation than a six-hour alligator hunt training class. Joe Madeline, 30, a sanitarian from Fort Lauderdale who won one of the 229 By DANA BANKER Staff Writer Broward drivers are about to lose the option of paying traffic fines and registering vehicles at night at the County Courthouse, and again may face long daytime lines. Clerk of Courts Robert Lockwood announced on Saturday that he was stopping the extended hours because too few people took advantage of the program. Two years ago, Lockwood began keeping clerks on duty until 7 p.m. Monday through Friday to give drivers a break a a I i I Staff photoSUSAN GARDNER Jeanne Berry of Fort Lauderdale looks at one of many statues for sale from the Kapok Tree restaurant.

Former restaurant's furnishings draw fans, collectors to auction and ease daytime congestion at the court house in downtown Fort Lauderdale. But too few drivers used the extended hours to justify paying three clerks to work at night, said Kathy Bradley, administrative aide in Lockwood's traffic and misde- vm annnp stitricinn Ra. ginning on Monday, Lockwood drivers wanting to pay fines in person will have to wait in line during the office's regular hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. "It was a pilot program and there wasn't enough traffic generated to warrant the expenditure," Bradley said.

"We felt the staff we had at night could be more productive during the day." County Administrator Lex Hester said that Lockwood had overspent this year's budget by about $700,000 by hiring as many as 34 employees to fill positions that were not budgeted and that Lock-wood was forced to cut spending somewhere. Some county commissioners questioned the timing of Lockwood's announcement, wondering whether it was a ploy to justify a demand for more money when they discuss his proposed budget on Wednesday. County budget officials have recommended that Lockwood's office receive $15.9 million for the 1990 budget year, 6 percent more than the office's 1989 allocation. "Every year at budget time, some service in Mr. Lockwood's office is highlighted because of budget problems," County Commission Chairman Nicki Grossman said.

"I think that last year right about budget time we found out how Mr. Lock-wood had a tremendous backup in his processing. I think night court had provided some relief to the court system. I will Jight for night court." But Grossman said county commissioners had little control over how Lockwood, an elected official, spends the money the county allocates to him. And she conceded that the program could have been more successful with better promotion.

"The last time I heard, it was new and they needed to do some PR on it," said County Commissioner Sylvia Poitier, who sat on the committee that recommended the extended hours. "Nobody told me it wasn't working." A public awareness campaign was never tried, and daytime traffic and misdemeanor lines remain long, she said. "I just made a visit to the clerk's office and I was really appalled," Poitier said. "I stood there at least an hour and the line hardly moved." Bradley said statistics on how many people used the night hours were not available. Nor did she know how much the program cost.

When the program began, Broward court clerks were processing about 350,000 traffic tickets each year. Lock-wood said only 40 percent of those who received tickets paid the fines through the mail. The rest accounted for the 1,050 people a day who shuffled through one of four Broward courthouse locations to settle the citations in person. way to 1-95 onto 1-95 and the eastbound and westbound inside lanes will be closed continuously for bridge construction. One or two lanes of Cypress Creek Road will be closed, as needed, until Sept.

30 for bridge construction. At least two lanes in each direction will remain open during rush hours. On Atlantic Boulevard, one or two lanes in each direction will be closed until Sept. 7 for bridge construction. At least two lanes in each direction will be open during rush hours.

One lane in each direction of Ham-mondville Road will be closed until Sept. 30 for bridge construction. Frustrated by delays in road construction or a particularly congested area9 Write to Traffic Watch, co Sun-Sentinel 101 N. New River Drive, Fort Lauderdale Fla. 33301-2293.

permits handed out in a computer lottery, said he is counting on an "action-packed" adventure on his first-ever alligator hunt. "I don't expect it to be easy." Many hunters from Broward and Palm Beach counties who would been assigned to the Everglades conservation areas were, rerouted to Lake Okeechobee after tests showed potentially harmful levels of mercury, a toxic metal, in some Everglades alligators. The lake, home to an estimated 7,000 gators, will be scoured by 68 hunters, the largest number in any one location in the state'. i I Money, as well as sport, lures the hunt-; ers. At current meat and hide prices, a good-sized alligator can put $500 in the hunter's pocket.

There is one major change in the rules frohi last year: All 3,405 alligators that car? be bagged statewide must be killed immediately after capture, in part for hu- manitarian reasons. year, 238 hunters killed 2,979 ga-; tors using the same weapons permitted this year gig harpoons with detachable heads, spear guns and snatch hooks at-! tached to fishing rods without serious injury. Finding alligators could be easier this yea? because the drought lowered water levels in the wetlands and concentrated alligators in canals and pockets of deep water. Each hunter is allowed to take 15 alli-v gators, but quotas are lower in some experimental hunt areas. Trappers should take advantage of the firs few nights of the hunt before alliga-- tors are "spooked" by all the boats pursu- ing them, said Lt.

Randy Mullins, who pa-'; trols Lake Okeechobee for the state Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. 'Z "The first night they'll be sort of laid 'Z back because they're used to boats shining their lights at them," he said. The game commission decided to resur- rect alligator hunting last year after a quarter-century break because research showed that the reptile, once classified as endangered, was thriving, said Nick Wi- ley, a game commission biologist. Alligator hunting in Florida was outlawed in 1962, and five years later the species was listed as endangered. That protection, and the passage in 1970 of the Lacey Act prohibiting interstate shipment of alligator hides, led to a resurgence of 'alligators throughout the state.

A nine-year experimental hunt pro- gram in selected North Florida lakes led state biologists to conclude that alligators are a "renewable resource." DIGEST Staff reports Drug crackdown ends Florida police have wrapped up a fto-day crackdown on crack cocaine Vfith the arrests of 2,117 people on drug charges and the seizures of 327 cars and 75 guns. With 474 arrests, Broward led the state in Operation Rock Pile II, Sheriff's Office spokesman George Crolius Statewide, police confiscated 9,507 rocks of crack cocaine, 2.73 pounds of cocaine powder, 12.72 pounds of marijuana and $72,932 in cash, Crolius said. Crack house burned FORT LAUDERDALE Firefighters on Saturday extinguished a predawn blaze in an abandoned house they think was a crack house burned by an arsonist. Firefighters were called to the house, 427 NW Eighth at 6 a.m. and had the fire under control in 20 minutes, Fire Lt.

Dennis Sheehan said. Investigators suspect arson because two-bedroom wood-frame house was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, Sheehan said. Man, 61, beaten FORT LAUDERDALE A 61-year-old man who was beaten with a claw hammer was in critical condition late Saturday at Broward General Medical Center after undergoing surgery for head injuries, police said. Leroy McKine, who was badly beat-en about the head, was found lying semiconscious on the floor of an apartment at 1524 NW 15th Way, Detective Rod Bauder said. "It's a shame they're closing this place up.

I've got a lot of memories here as a child." Julie Romero attract a thousand people before the gavel fell on the last sale. "Probably 50 percent of the people today are here because they either were married here or were faithful patrons of the restaurant," Fisher said. The other half, he said, were people picking up merchandise for resale. The first item, a hefty urnlike piece of masonry, went for $8,900, sold to Royal Antiques of Pompano Beach. In the first 45 minutes of the auction, the antique store's representative, Alan Friedman, estimated he had spent $40,000 on five items.

He said the store plans a big sale next month and expects the Kapok Tree haul to make a good profit through re-selling to restaurants and hotels. "Anybody with a lot of room and money," he said, laughing. The auction also attracted regular folks, purchasers of knickknacks and mementos. Gregory Turek of Davie, who had vis TRAFFIC of the road will force lane closings and limit access to and from 1-95. Westbound motorists on Pembroke Road will not be able to turn left to get onto southbound I-95.

Instead, westbound motorists must make a U-turn and head back to the east-bound turn lane to 1-95. The restrictions will continue until next Saturday to begin construction of the 1-95 bridge. Work has just begun on Sheridan Street, where two lanes in each direction will be closed on Tuesday from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. After that, the westbound turn lane to southbound 1-95 will be closed until Sept.

7. At various times on Stirling Road, eastbound motorists will not be able to turn left to northbound 1-95 until Sept. 6 because of temporary bridge construction. Two lanes in each direction will remain open during the construction. The outside eastbound lane of Sunrise By BOB KNOTTS Staff Writer DAVIE The overgrown lawn and tall weeds, the cracked stone columns and dirty, red tile roof all announced that the Kapok Tree restaurant many had loved was no more.

Some came to buy a piece of their memories. But for others, the everything-must-go auction on Saturday was a chance to save a buck or make one. From exotic bird cages to a ventilated exhaust system, from Greek and Roman statues to neon lights, if it could be moved, it was auctioned. About a thousand items were put up for bids. The Kapok Tree opened in the 1950s but hit the skids after its main owner died of a heart attack, said Louis Fisher, the auctioneer and co-owner of Fisher Auction Co.

of Pompano Beach. Fisher said the restaurant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy nine months ago. The primary secured creditor, Kentucky Central Life Insurance Company, won permission from the court to auction the property. The asking price for the 65-acre grounds is $4.2 million, Fisher said, but the land was not on the block on Saturday. It was the restaurant's ornate trappings and equipment that drew crowds.

Fisher said he expected the auction to ited the restaurant three or four times when it was open, bought a small red sign saying "Rajah Boutique" for $5. "Just to have a piece of memorabilia of the famous Kapok Tree," Turek said. "If anybody's been to the Kapok Tree and seen the Rajah Boutique, they may know it's authentic, even though it may have been made in Japan." Julie Romero of Homestead bid on a massive brass ashtray, but lost it to another buyer for $150. "It was too expensive'. but it's a shame they're closing this place up.

I've got a lot of memories here as a child," she said. Romero recalled that she ran through the Kapok Tree gardens when visiting on Father's Day and Mother's Day in years past. "Oh, this place was beautiful," she said. But to Steven Leland of Fort Lauderdale, the stuff for sale was on the tacky side. "A little bit past its time," said Leland, who went to the auction looking for equipment for his restaurant.

About half an hour into the sale, Dorothy Payne of Delray Beach said she had seen enough. "I was expecting like nice dining room furniture. And I was a little disappointed," she said. "My husband is still looking around, but I've lost interest already." WATCH Boulevard will occasionally be closed until Oct. 2 for bridge construction.

One lane in each direction of Northwest 19th Street in Fort Lauderdale will be closed, as needed, until Oct. 31 for bridge construction. On Oakland Park Boulevard, two westbound lanes and one eastbound lane will be closed until Saturday for bridge construction. Motorists in the outside eastbound lane must turn right onto southbound 1-95 because of a temporary barrier wall. Two northbound lanes of Powerline Road will be closed from 6:30 a.m.

to 5:30 p.m. until Saturday for bridge construction. One lane in each direction will be closed continuously. Newly timed traffic lights on Commercial Boulevard should make it easier for eastbound commuters near 1-95. This week, a section of the eastbound turn lane Bridge construction slows drivers on By ANDREW MARTIN Staff Writer With all the construction and lane closings on cross streets, drivers can spend more time trying to get onto Interstate 95 than they do on the interstate itself.

The hassles can be attributed to construction on the bridges over 1-95, which are being reinforced or replaced. Here's a rundown on what's happening on the major cross streets this week: On Hallandale Beach Boulevard, one westbound lane will be closed from 6 a m. to 3:30 p.m. and one eastbound lane will be closed from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The closings will continue until Wednesday while crews construct temporary pavement on the outside shoulders of the road. One place to avoid this week is Pembroke Road at 1-95. A crane in the middle.