South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 5

LOCAL SUN-SENTINEL, SOUTH FLORIDA 1 2B Sunday, May 23, 1999 MS Merger adds up to powerful teachers Civil rights trial may tarnish name of Broward County's late sheriff "We've been working together on political and legislative changes. The main reason for this is the attack on public education from the new governor and Legislature." PATRICIA BARBER President of manatee Education association, a branch of fea-united, of the unions' merger on saturday it." PEN has 500 members and will begin a recruitment drive this August. Boyd said the group won't use dues to support political candidates. Before the merger, the biggest union of state employees was the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which counts more than 106,000 members. The amalgamation on Saturday reunites the two groups, which split in the 1970s because of internal differences.

But delegates from across the state, many emerging from the meeting with confetti dotting their hair, declared that the two unions have too much in common to ignore the power that could emerge from a partnership. "We've been working together on political and legislative changes," said Patricia Barber, president of the Manatee Education Association, a branch of FEA-United. "The Her group conducted its annual meeting in Tampa last week, and 83 percent of its membership gave the nod to merging. "We're absolutely thrilled," she said. "All of us are on the same page." The vote was the second of three steps involved in combining the unions.

A year ago, both groups agreed to merge. Since then, a constitution and set of bylaws have been crafted, which have now been approved by each union. The convention next May will be the final step, where elections will be conducted and a name will be chosen for the new organization. No second thoughts were found among the officials heading home after the meeting. "I don't think there's a question merging into one statewide union will give us power from Pen-sacola to Key West," Tornillo said.

union CONTINUED FROM PAGE IB the James Madison Institute, which merged last year with the Foundation for Florida's Future, a group Bush helped found. When the Legislature passed i his 167-page educational package, one passage allowed groups such as PEN to attend teachers' meetings, solicit membership through teacher mailboxes and deduct dues from paychecks, a privilege previously reserved for unions. Both unions tried to ax this provision. But it didn't work. Bob Boyd, general counsel and vice chairman for PEN in Talla-: hassee, questioned whether the merger was worth it for educators.

"This session, the teachers unions were not effective and I'm not sure anything will change," he said. "I wonder if the average teacher knows what happened and the significance and impact of BELIEVE IT OR NOT, HE MEANT TO DO rested a friend of the sheriff. "Is he mad?" Kogod is heard asking dispatcher Coreen Cosela before she patches him through to Cochran.i Then the sheriff and deputy are connected. The tape runs out just as they start talking. Shortly after this conversation, rumors started circulating through the sheriff's department about Cochran's involvement in the arrest.

Dressier heard the rumors, which included allegations that Kogod was being pressured to reduce the felony charges against Steinfeldt to a lesser offense. Dressier took the allegations to his bosses at the State Attorney's Office, giving them a memo that alleged Kogod was being pressured. The State Attorney's Office eventually declined to pursue the matter All this was taking place while Cochran was running for re-election. Roberts, his opponent in the primary, heard the rumors, got copies of internal police documents about the Steinfeldt case and began discussing them in his campaign, according to court documents and a newspaper report at the time. The sheriff then launched an investigation into how Roberts got the documents and who in the police department was spreading the Steinfeldt rumors.

Investigators from Internal Affairs questioned Kogod, who denied he had ever said he was being pressured. "Dressier became the focus of the investigation because his testimony conflicted with Ko-god's," court documents state. Dressier was interviewed for more than two hours by Internal Affairs. Shortly afterward, an 1 1 -member professional standards committee recommended that Dressier be fired as a reserve deputy for lying, based on his conflicting testimony. Cochran fired him on Oct.

21, 1996. Gerwins said in his deposition that the only reason for the dismissal was "a truthfulness issue and this inconsistency" between Dressier and Kogod's testimony. Dressier was devastated, so he sued. Shortly before Dressier was fired, charges against Steinfeldt were reduced by prosecutors from indecent assault on a child to a lewd act in the presence of a child. Steinfeldt pleaded no contest and received two years of probation.

"This whole case is because Cochran's people didn't want the truth to come out," Dressier said. "I have to pursue this. If they can do it to me, they can do it to anybody." COCHRAN Continued from page IB The suit was filed in January 1 998. Cochran, also the former Fort Lauderdale police chief, died in September 1997 of cancer. Dressier was a reserve deputy, spending 16 hours a month filling in for other deputies by patrolling unincorporated south Broward County.

He was a 1 99 1 graduate of the police academy and did part-time work because he enjoyed it. His full-time job was the same as it is today chief of the economic crimes division at the State Attorney's Office. Dressier said in an interview last week that he had another strike against him. At the time he was fired, he was openly supporting Cochran's re-election opponent, Lawrence "Chris" Roberts. This much is undisputed: Dressier was fired after he went to the State Attorney's Office in 1 996 with allegations that Cochran interfered in the arrest of Oren Steinfeldt.

Steinfeldt was a resident of the Pine Islands Ridge condominiums near Davie. He also is the uncle of Barbara Miller, a political consultant who was running the sheriff's re-election campaign at the time. The sheriff's department says Dressier was fired because he lied to investigators about the Steinfeldt case. Dressier says his dismissal was revenge for complaining about the sheriff to another agency. He charges that his civil rights were violated, and he wants an apology, his job back and more than $60,000 in attorneys' fees.

The trial is set for July. The Broward Sheriff's Office refused to comment last week. Joseph Gerwins, inspector general for the sheriff's department, took part in the investigation of Dressier as Cochran's personal representative. Gerwins said in a sworn deposition that politics or revenge had nothing to do with Dressler's firing. The incident that sparked the suit was the Feb.

8,1996, arrest of Steinfeldt, then 74, on charges that he exposed himself to four children near his condominium. Miller testified during a pretrial deposition that she phoned Cochran at home for help shortly after her uncle was arrested. Cochran called his radio dispatch room the night of Feb. 8 and the tape recording was preserved. Cochran is heard cursing loudly when told that Steinfeldt was arrested.

Then he asks to speak to Deputy Mitch Kogod, the officer who arrested Steinfeldt. Kogod apparently was worried when he was told that he had ar THIS of the International Jet the event. The races 1 WHEEEEEEEEEEEE: Josh Lustic of Melbourne performs a maneuver during the Amateur Freestyle Sports Boating Association races Saturday off Fort Lauderdale's South Beach. Lustic scored a 42 .2 to continue today. Please see story, 12C.

staffphooA.Enriquvaintin main reason for this is the attack on public education from the new governor and Legislature." Maureen Dinnen, president of FTP-NEA, was just as jubilant as FEA-United delegates who celebrated the vote. it to restore the a it 4 a 5- ciation Hall of Fame Museum. It was built on 45 acres. Michael Thomas, the developer of the Springhill Suites by Marriott that had its grand opening this month, is proposing an $18 million hotel, conference center and restaurant on the northeast corner of Interstate 95 and Stirling Road. Thomas said the proposal, called the Oakridge Center, will open on New Year's Day.

On East Sheridan Street, developer Kevin Guthard has plans for the Sheridan 400, a gated community of 240 apartment units on 9.5 acres. "People are realizing there's a lot of potential here," said Michael Garrett, the city's Main Street director. that part win Dania Beach Hotel to its '20s glory 1 I i 4 Buddy Nevins can be reached at bnevinsfasun-sentinelcom or i 954-356-4571. A LOCAL The Italian- Spanish-style i Dania Beach Hotel, built in the 1920s, is being bought, and the buyers plana renovation that will turn it into a showpiece, -a Staff photo Until E. Stcmann in Dania Beach, they are not new in the business.

Michael A. Shiff Associates is known for designing the 1 1 0 Tower, Broward County's tallest office building. The firm built the Sheppard Estate Townhomes on Las Olas and Villaggio di Las Olas, a condominium and retail project on the Him-marshee Canal in the 1 100 block of Las Olas Boulevard. The company also renovated the Broward County Courthouse. Thomas Monnay can be reached, at tmonnayQi or 954-385-7924.

Robin Benedick can be reached at rbenedkkfd or 954-38-79 14. unveil plan City officials, who said the hotel's current clientele has been contributing to the area's prostitution problem, said the proposed improvements are a godsend for the community. They said the project blends well into the downtown antique district, as well as into the Dania Main Street Program, which focuses on revitalizing downtown. one of the city's landmark buildings. He could not be reached for comment.

But Bertino said Maggie's plan calls for a first-class seafood restaurant on the second floor of the Pirates Inn, among other things. Florida Atlantic University's SeaTech campus opened this year on Dania beach, just west of the city's pier. Last year, a Sportsman's Park complex with an estimated $35 million impact on the local economy opened on the west side of Inter-stale 95 near Griffin Road. The complex includes the Outdoor World Bass Shops retail store, a seafood restaurant and the $32 million International Game Fish Asso- Developers HOTEL Continued from page 1B tea. "We've met with a lot of caterers and people in the community and they say there is no place like this," Justen Shiff said.

"We think there is a real need on the east side for a place where people can have weddings, celebrate 50th anniversaries and hold regional meetings." The Shiffs, who are buying an empty lot east of the hotel, hope to close on both properties by July 1 They would not disclose the cost of either property. And Jack Christy, who owns the hotel, could not be reached for comment. Christy bought the hotel property, which is assessed at $617,240, in 1994 million, according to records from the Broward County Appraiser's Office. City officials, who said the hotel's current clientele has been contributing to the area's prostitution problem, said the proposed improvements are a godsend for the community. They said the project blends well into the downtown antique district, as well as into the Dania Main Street Program, which focuses on revitalizing downtown.

"It's a real good economic engine for Dania Beach Boulevard," Mayor John Bertino said. "I'm personally very happy that Michael Shiff is doing it. That will be good for the city, the neighborhood and everybody." The Shiffs' interest in investing millions in the downtown is a shot in the arm to a renaissance that started several years ago in Dania Beach: Across from the Dania Beach Hotel, businessman Joe Maggie is renovating the Pirates Inn hotel, r' i inal shape. Because Main Street emphasizes the restoration and preservation of old buildings, Garrett said the program is willing to assist the Shiffs with the design work. The improvements call for cottages, a large garden and banquet rooms, among other features.

The Shiffs will redo the building so it fits into the antique district and the Main Street concept. Each of the hotel's 50 rooms will be renovated to be different from the other In a 1920s motif. The Shiffs, who hope to complete the improvements In nine months to a year, said they might use the lot east of the hotel property to build additional parking and a few stores. Though this is their first fjroject I I- i I A I ii "You can be close to the beach, the airport, the seaport, and it's still affordable." Location is what lured the Shiffs to Dania Beach. "It's a neat old building," Justen Shiff said of the hotel.

"We think Dania Beach has a lot of opportunity. The hotel is going to be a draw with its location." The Shiffs said the potential for the hotel's success is so great they will operate it. The hotel, designed by architect Francis L. Abreu, was built in 1925 next to tomato farms by a group of developers, who included A.J. Ryan Sr.

and I.T. Parker. The Shiffs say they will not alter the structure, which by Dania Beach standards is a historical building that needs to keep it orig.