Tallahassee Democrat from Tallahassee, Florida • Page 18

48Monday, May 18, 1998 Tallahassee Democrat Florida Obitumues TOBACCO LOCAL OBITUARIES enate panel wrappin on tobacco deal Funeral Home Maddox Chapel in Marianna (850482-2332). A native of Roswell, N.M, she was a homemaker. She is survived by a son, Rex Byrd Jr. of Ponce de Leon; two daughters, Amy Edsinga of Torrence, and Tina Byrd of Ponce de Leon; her father and stepmother, Charlie and Paula Snellgrove of Steel City; her mother and stepfather, Ramona and Martin' Corbitt of Las Vegas; three brothers, Chuck Snellgrove of Alford, and Billy and Eugene Snellgrove of Midland, Texas; a stepbrother, Adam Sapp of Cottondale; a sister, Sue Ann Pennington of Wilmington, N.C.; a stepsister, Jennifer Meredith of Steel City; and a grandson. Inez Harris Edmisten Inez Harris Edmisten, 77, of Live Oak died Saturday in Gainesville.

The service will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Live Oak Cemetery. Family will receive friends from 7 to 9 p.m. today at the funeral home. Memorial contributions may be made to First Baptist Church Building Fund, 401 W.

Howard Live Oak, FL 32060. A native of Granite Falls, N.C., she had lived in Live Oak since 1959. She was a member of the DAV Auxiliary No. 126, the American Legion Auxiliary Post No. 107.

She was a homemaker and a member of First Baptist Church. She is survived by her husband, John Edmisten of Live Oak; Kay Frances Thomas of Live Oak; a brother, Manuel Harris of Granite Falls, N.C.; and two grandchildren. (Harris Funeral Home in Live Oak, 904-362-1234.) Robert Dale Harwood Robert Dale Harwood, 83, of Alligator Point died after a brief illness Friday in Tallahassee. The service will be at 10 a.m. Sunday at Mission By The Sea in Alligator Point A native of Chicago, he had lived Ronald Eugene Alday Sr.

Ronald Eugene Alday 35, of Cairo, died Saturday. The service will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Clark Funeral Home in Cairo (912-377-1414). Family will receive friends from 7 to 9 p.m. today at the funeral home.

A native of Cairo, he was a mill worker. He was a Baptist. He is survived by his wife of 17 years, Darlene Wheeland Alday of Cairo; two sons, Gene Alday and Michael Alday, both of Cairo; a daughter, Christina Alday of Cairo; two brothers, Douglas Alday and Roy Alday, both of Cairo; three sisters, Wil-ma Sue Waters of Hortense, Lucy Tripp of Screven, and Thalia Alday of Cairo. Clevie Baggett Clevie Baggett 84, of Marianna died Sunday in Blountstown. The service will be at 10 a.m.

Tuesday at Sims Cemetery near Marianna. Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. today at Bailey Funeral Home in Altha (850-762-3965). A native of Altha, she had lived in Marianna since 1961. She is survived by a son, Larry Baggett of Marianna; a daughter, Sybil Ammons of Blountstown; her stepmother, Mary Sewell of Altha; four brothers, Harmon Sewell of Greensboro, William Earl Sewell of Blountstown, Paul Sewell of Port St.

Joe and Fate Sewell of Altha; five sisters, Miz-zie Mae Alday of Altha, Jewell Herring of Alliance, Johnnie Maddox of Altha, Blondell Morgan of Lynn Haven and Eva Weston of Port St. Joe; nine grandchildren; and 12 greatgrandchildren. Ton! Annette Snellgrove Byrd Toni Annette Snellgrove Byrd, 37, of Alford died Thursday in Defuniak Springs. The service will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday at Alford City Cemetery in Alford.

Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. today at James James in Alligator Point since 1983. He was, actively involved in various community affairs. He was a member of the! Elks Club and Blue Goose Club. He is survived by two sons, Robert D.

Harwood Jr. and George R. HaK wood, both of Atlanta. (Culley's MeadowWood Riggin9 Road Chapel, 877-8191.) I Rhunetta Duhart Hunter Rhunetta Duhart Hunter, 85, of Miami died Thursday. I The service will be at 11 a.m; Tuesday at First Baptist Church in Bunch Park Community of OpaJ Locka, with burial at 3 p.m.

Wednesday at Greenwood Cemetery. A native of Tallahassee, she had lived in Miami for more than 20 years. She was a clerk at Speed's GroJ eery until her retirement She was a member of St. Phillip AME She is survived by two daughters; Elaine Hunter McGahee of Miami and Austine Hunter Perry of Lancas. ter, and three grandchildren (Strong Jones Funeral Home' 224-2139).

Pearl Dennis Sowell Pearl Dennis Sowell, 96, of Do-? than, died following a brief ill ness Saturday. The service will be at 10 a.m-Wednesday at Memphis Baptist Church in Dothan. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Byrd Funeral Home in Dothan (334-793-3003). Memorial contribui tions may be made to Memphis Bapf tist Church, 4595 Eddins Road, AL 32301.

I She is survived by two sons, Den? ny C. Sowell of Birmingham and Ben. F. Sowell of Tallahassee; five grandchildren; four great-grandchildren! and three great-great-grandchildren; Capt. James R.

Spilseth Capt James R. Spilseth, 46, of Tallahassee, who died Wednesday, was a captain with the U.S. Merchant Marine. hearings Critics say the effort was a partisan attention-grabber by Republican Charlie Crist, who is running for U.S. Senate.

By Tom Baytes THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A state Senate ethics panel investigating the state's $11 billion deal with the tobacco industry is preparing to report its findings after six months of hearings that one critic called "a total waste of time." "The hearings brought the truth to light," state Sen. Charlie Crist, chairman of the Senate Executive Business, Ethics, and Elections committee, said Sunday. "It exposed the secrecy the governor thinks is standard operating procedure. It's ugly." Crist decided to investigate the procedure by which the state settled its lawsuit with cigarette makers after the governor's inspector general came under criminal investigation for borrowing money from lawyers involved in the tobacco lawsuit. The official, Harold Lewis, later resigned and the investigation is ongoing.

Critics of the effort dubbed the hearings "The Charlie Crist Show," calling it a partisan attention-grabber for the St. Petersburg Republican, who is running for the U.S. Because of recent rains, hundreds of the state's most traveled highways: Interstate 75 and U.S. Highway 441. Highway patrol to motorists: Please don't gawk at the gators raise political donations.

Carlos McDonald, an aide to Attorney General Bob Butterworth, used his state-issued calling card, cell phone and computer for personal reasons. Doug Cook, director of the Agency for Health Care Administration, signed the original contract with the 11 trial team lawyers without reading it. Fred Levin, a Pensacola attorney who masterminded the lawsuit and hand-picked the trial team lawyers may get a bigger chunk of the legal services payment than the others because of referral fees. The trial team lawyers are locked in a dispute over those fees. Half want 25 percent of the $11 billion recovery as stated in the original contract.

The rest will settle for an amount to be determined by an independent arbitrator, a provision in the settlement agreement Crist has promised a report on the committee's findings in two weeks. It is expected to call for several changes to state law. One change would outlaw personal loans to government officials from those with business before the state. Another would prohibit the state from entering into contingency fee contracts with attorneys. The $11 billion settlement is to reimburse the state for the cost of treating sick smokers.

Democrat files alonoside two "They can go to Silver Springs or Busch Gardens or wherever to see alligators. I IIP Ll. Keith Gornto "They can go to Silver Springs or Busch Gardens or wherever to see alligators without endangering somebody's life," Gornto said. Anyone getting near one of the reptiles had also better keep their food to themselves, according to Capt. James Moran of the game and fresh water fish commission.

Feeding alligators is a second-degree misdemeanor. "Feeding them makes them lose their normal fear of human contact to the point that when (an alligator) sees someone, he thinks they're going to feed him," Moran said. That makes it more likely an alligator will eventually become aggressive and end up biting someone, he said. iodicals deserve a larger share of Dade's advertising because they represent an important source of information for people who can't afford to pay for a newspaper. But others see a political motive behind the move.

"These newspapers play a political role in elections in the Hispanic community and some elected officials pay a lot of attention to them," said Dario Moreno, a political science professor at Florida International University. Small newspapers and periodicals would get more $1 million a year in all and larger newspapers, including The Miami Herald, would get less. So far, the only company to speak against the resolution is The Herald. Democrat news services DEATHS opponents, he was known for his ability to soar over taller players with his great leaping After a failed stint at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C., in the 1960s, he returned to New York, where the lure of drugs eroded his once majestic athletic prowess while Abdul-Jabbar and other contemporaries were excelling in the NBA.

Miles W. Kirkpatrick rejuvenated FTC Miles W. Kirkpatrick, who oversaw a study that was sharply critical of the Federal Trade Commission and was then given the job of rejuvenating the agency as its chairman, died at his home in Strafford, Pa. He was 79. In 1969, at the request of President Richard Nixon, Kirkpatrick led a bar association commission that examined the FTC.

The panel concluded that too many high-level employees were incompetent or were do-nothings, and that the commission wasted time pursuing "trivial matters." Impressed, Nixon appointed Caspar W. Weinberger to be FTC chairman and told him to overhaul the agency. Seven months later, when the president asked Weinberger to head the Office of Management and Budget he picked Kirkpatrick to lead the FTC. Under Kirkpatrick's guidance, the commission prodded manufacturers to back up their advertised claims of safety, performance, and therapeutic value. He returned to his law practice in 1973.

Crist He promised a report on the committee's findings in two weeks. Senate. "The hearings were a total waste of time," said Sen. Buddy Dyer, D-Orlando, the Senate minority leader. "Charlie always wants to take a pious view of things.

He never shines his light in the areas that have Republican misconduct." The hearings, and news accounts published during the hearings, have uncovered at least this much: Private lawyers hired to represent the state donated more than $560,000 to state and federal candidates in 36 states while they represented Chiles and state agencies in the lawsuit. Mississippi, Texas, and South Carolina lawyers had a large hand in directing Florida's lawsuit Gov, Lawton Chiles knew of the secret legislation that stripped the tobacco industry of its normal defenses and agreed it should be passed quietly. Bragg Crane, an aid to Chiles, used state equipment to GAINESVILLE of alligators can be seen bobbina ping right in traffic lanes for a peek at the reptiles. FHP troopers are enforcing a state law that prohibits stopping on the side of interstate highways except in case of emergency. "People are stopping inappropriately to take pictures or are merging back into the roadway after seeing the alligators, and they're causing wrecks," said FHP Lt Keith Gornto.

"Troopers are patrolling the area, and if they see (motorists) stopped, they're going to give them a ticket" The ticket carries a $60 fine. Last Sunday, troopers ticketed more than 10 drivers for pulling over to ogle the alligators. The problem is especially serious on weekends, when motorists are more likely to linger or stop, said Gornto. So far, native Eoridians have been ticketed as often as tourists, Gornto said. He said it's dangerous when drivers slow down to stop, and dangerous when they open their car doors, get out, walk around then get back in their cars and merge back into traffic.

BRIEFS fast, but apparently it was too fast for the sandy road," Bond said. Officials said neither of the children were wearing helmets, which are required on ATVs. The ATV, which weighs about 1,000 pounds, belongs to Selph's father. No charges have been filed, but the FHP said the accident was still being investigated. DADE COUNTY Dade tries to spread around ad money A Miami-Dade County commissioner wants to steer an extra $800,000 a year in county advertising to dozens of small periodicals and away from the big newspapers in town.

Commissioner Javier Souto says free weeklies and other per Karolj Seles father of Monica Seles Karolj Seles, the father and coach of women's tennis star Monica Seles, has died of cancer. He was 64. Until Seles took ill, he had been Monica's only coach. An award-winning editorial cap toonist in his native Yugoslavia; Seles used his artistic talent to teach Monica and his son, Zoltait the fundamentals of tennis. Seles coached Zoltan, now 33 who became a top junior playen, and Monica, now 24, who becamfc the top woman tennis player in th world.

Seles was very protective of his daughter, especially after she was stabbed by a fan during a match 06 April 30, 1993. Despite a condition continually weakened by the cancer and the treatments, Seles attended many of Monica's tournaments. He last sa her play in August in Atlanta. Democrat news services 1 1 I KARMANOS PRINTING AND GRAPHICS Since 1984 On Time Delivery i 1 1 i I 1 rd is John Hawkes, novelist John Hawkes, a veteran and highly praised author of avant-garde and experimental fiction, died at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence. He was 72 and lived in Providence.

Novelist Edmund White said Hawkes "must be ranked as America's greatest living visionary." And Robert Kelly, a short-story writer teaching at Bard College, wrote that Hawkes had "outrageous lyric power." In an interview quoted in the journal Wisconsin Studies in Con temporary Literature in 1965, Hawkes said: "I began to write fiction on the assumption that the true enemies of the novel were plot character, setting and theme, and having once abandoned these familiar ways of thinking about fiction, totality of fiction or structure was really all that remained. And structure verbal and psychological coherence is still my largest concern as a writer." His first novel, "The Cannibal" (New Directions), came out in 1949. His prominence in contemporary letters was enlarged by three novels published in the 1970s, "The Blood Oranges" (1971, Viking Penguin), "Death, Sleep and the Traveler" (1974, New Directions) and "Travesty" (1976, New Directions). Honors Hawkes received included a $35,000 Lannan Foundation award, Ford Foundation and Guggenheim fellowships. Aurora Castillo environmentalist Aurora Castillo, an award-winning environmentalist who rallied residents to ward off a prison, toxic-waste facilities and an oil pipeline from East Los Angeles, has died of leukemia.

She was 84. In 1995, she became the first Los Angeles resident, Hispanic woman and oldest person to win the $75,000 Goldman Environmental Prize, which has been called the Nobel Prize of environmentalists. In 1986, when a priest urged a women's group to protest the construction of a $100 million state prison the eighth penal facility in East Los Angeles Castillo responded by rallying residents to peaceful protests. State authorities located the prison elsewhere in 1992. Earl Manigault basketball player Earl "The Goat" Manigault, a king of New York's public basketball courts whose heroin use deprived him of a promising career, died of congestive heart failure.

He was 53. Manigault whose life was depicted in the 1996 HBO movie "The Legend of Earl 'The Goat Manigault," had a history of heart disease. Manigault grew up playing on New York City's playgrounds with the likes of Connie Hawkins and his friend Lew Alcindor, now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Although at 6-feet-l he was smaller than many DOEB Troopers are ticketing travelers who slop to photograph or look at the reptiles. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GAINESVILLE The Florida Highway Patrol has a message for motorists cruising through nearly-flooded Paynes Prairie State Preserve just south of Gainesville: Don't stop to gawk at the gators.

And don't feed the roadside reptiles, either, the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission warns. Heavy rains this spring sent water to near-record levels in Paynes Prairie. The water is closer to the highway than in most years, which means alligators sometimes hundreds of them have been seen bobbing right alongside sections of two of the most heavily traveled roadways in the state: Interstate 75 and U.S. Highway 441. That, in turn, has curious motorists pulling over to take a gander at the gators, or worse, stop SALT SPRINGS Girl killed when ATV rolls oer A 7-yearold girl riding on the back of an all-terrain vehicle was killed when the ATV flipped and landed on her on a sandy trail.

Julie Johnson, of Salt Springs, would have turned 8 years old Sunday. She died Saturday after the accident on a wooded trail near the Ocala National Forest in Marion County. She was riding on the back of the Honda four-wheeler being driven by 14-year-old Steven Lee according to a Florida Highway Patrol. The boy lost control of the ATV and it rolled over, said FHP Sgt R.S. Bond.

"He said he wasn't going that PLANT A LIVING MEMORY Dedicate a tree or planting area in honor or in memory of a loved one at the New Hospice Center. Call for details. Big Bend Hospice 850-878-5310 or 1-800-772-5862 STANDING FOR SERVICE SINCE 1961 halation Thorn If; R.V. Jackson, M.D. Board Certified ACAM ka (850) 656-8846.