The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • B5

Orlando Sentinel: PRODUCT: OS DESK: LOC DATE: 08-09-2003 EDITION: MET ZONE: MET PAGE: B5.0 DEADLINE: 0.36 OP: rmccrory COMPOSETIME: 00.54 CMYK FINAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2003 B5 Orlando Sentinel FLORIDA The State I In Brief i ANDY NEWMANTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS Captain convicted of attack on deckhand The felon had been smoking crack cocaine, the charter boat's first mate testified. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PANAMA CITY A charter boat captain with 14 prior felony convictions is facing up to 30 years in prison after being found guilty of attacking a deckhand who had accused him of smoking crack cocaine with four passengers aboard. James Padgett, 32, of Panama City was convicted Thursday of aggravated battery. A sentencing date will be set after a Sept. 8 hearing on whether he should be considered a habitual offender and prison release re-offender.

The incident happened May 21, 2001, on St. Andrew Bay. Passengers on the 32-foot Retriever heard first mate Travis Deems say, "The captain's on crack, but don't worry, I'll handle it." Padgett then chased Deems, 29, with a 6-foot gaff saying, "I'm going to kill you," the witnesses testified. He failed to hook Deems and gave up the chase when a passenger begged them to return to shore. Deems, however, tried to wrest control of the boat from Padgett, who was operating it from the flying bridge.

Deems countered his moves with deck-level controls, eventually burning out an engine. The passengers testified that Padgett came down, threw his cell phone at Deems and hit him with a fish billy, a small wooden bat. Deems knocked Padgett overboard, and he swam at least 100 feet to shore. Padgett told jurors that Deems, who called the boat's owner after finding Padgett taking drugs in the restroom, had threatened him with a knife. "I felt like he was going to stab me if he got the chance," Padgett testified.

None of the passengers said the mate threatened Padgett. Deems said he had his pocket-knife in hand but never got the chance to open the blade. "I made the decision that I was going to defend myself and my customers any way I could," Deems said. Preparing for release. Volunteer rescuers load frames supporting vinyl bags aboard a boat Friday as 2 pilot whales swim by in a lagoon at Big Pine Key.

The frames and bags will be used to carry 5 pilot whales to the ocean. A pod of 28 beached in April. Marine experts to free 5 stranded pilot whales where they are kept, making them swim to feed, said Jeff Foster, of the Seattle-based Marine Research Consultants, which is assisting with the whales. "The animals are alert and they're more active than they have been," Foster said. "The next step is to take them and continue on their journey out to the wild." The five whales four adult females and one yearling male have been recovering under the 24-hour watch of volunteers since they beached April 18 with 23 others in the Florida Keys.

It's unclear why they stranded, but marine experts say some showed signs of old age. Eight died, six were euthanized and nine swam away. Volunteers ranging from local residents to tourists seizing a once in a lifetime opportunity to touch a whale nursed the five creatures back to health. Some held the five mammals up in the water until they were strong enough to swim on their own. Others hand-fed the whales raw fish, including some infused with medicine, often suffering bites from the eager toothy mouths.

"The real heroes here are the vol The release Sunday follows months of caring for the mammals in a natural lagoon. By C0RALIE CARLSON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BIG PINE KEY Five pilot whales that stranded nearly four months ago in the Florida Keys will likely be returned to the ocean Sunday, their keepers said Friday. The release had been set for today, but it was delayed to make sure key pieces of equipment were in place in time, said Blair Mase, stranding coordinator for the National Marine Fisheries Service. This is the first time in the United States that five whales have been released simultaneously from a single stranding incident. Releasing even one is rare, officials said.

To get them ready, volunteers have stopped swimming with the whales and no longer hand-feed them. They also have made the whales exercise by throwing their food fish into opposite ends of the football-field length natural lagoon unteers that dedicated themselves to this effort," said Becky Arnold, director of the Florida Keys Marine Mammal Rescue Team. "It definitely makes the world a better place." More than 100 days after the whales beached themselves, the blood tests showed they were healthy enough to return to the sea. At high tide Sunday morning, Foster plans to use cranes and slings to lift the whales and load them onto boats, which will take them about 12 miles offshore to the edge of the continental shelf. About 50 marine experts and volunteers will help with the release.

The whales are tagged and will be monitored. If any of them have problems, efforts will be made to recapture them and bring them back, said Roy Crabtree, regional administrator for National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration fisheries. He is worried about a young male, which could struggle without his mother, and about one female that has not socialized well with the other whales. "It's not an ideal situation, but we're doing the best we can," Crab-tree said. "We need to get these whales back in the wild.

That's where they belong." Recruit killed in training fire FORT LAUDERDALE A man training to become a Miami-Dade County firefighter died Friday in an accident during a simulated ship fire at Port Everglades. Four other trainees suffered minor injuries. Wayne Mitchell, 37, was participating in a routine certification exercise about 10 a.m. when he was hurt, said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesman Louie Fernandez. He was later pronounced dead at Broward General Medical Center.

Fernandez did not release Mitchell's cause of death pending an investigation by the Broward Sheriff's Office. The other four recruits were treated and released after apparently suffering from heat exhaustion, Broward sheriffs spokesman Hugh Graf said. West Nile turns up in Broward FORT LAUDERDALE A 56-year-old Broward County man has tested positive for the West Nile virus, becoming at least the fifth Flo-ridian to be afflicted with the mosquito-borne ailment this year. The man's identity and hometown were not released by health officials. Other cases have been confirmed this year in Brevard, Collier, Lee and Okaloosa counties.

Those people are recovering, according to health officials. Last year, more than 4,000 people in the United States had symptoms of the virus, and 284 died. Florida had 28 cases and two deaths last year. West Nile, which causes swelling of the brain, is a rare strain of encephalitis. Mosquitoes spread the disease by feeding on the blood of infected birds.

Eastern equine and St. Louis encephalitis, different mosquito-borne forms of the disease, are relatively common in Florida. Greenpeace pleads not guilty MIAMI Greenpeace pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that its environmental activists illegally boarded a container ship approaching port in a protest against contraband Amazon mahogany. Greenpeace has said this is the first time the organization, as opposed to its members, has faced a federal indictment for its acts of civil disobedience. Ellen McPeake, chief operating officer of the Washington-based U.S.

unit of the international group, said, "Greenpeace needs to be unfettered in how it does its work, how it's done its work for 3 1 years." Pier, sanctuary back on table NAVARRE BEACH State officials are reconsidering their decision not to build an observation pier and a marine sanctuary, projects they had earlier killed because of budgetary concerns and a rash of drownings in the Florida Panhandle. Department of Environmental Protection regional parks manager Mike Bullock agreed to redesign plans at Navarre Beach State Park to include both projects during a meeting Thursday with state Rep. Ray Sansom, R-Fort Walton Beach, and state Sen. Charlie Clary, R-Destin. Santa Rosa County donated 130 acres for the park on Santa Rosa Island.

Buck Lee, chairman of the County Commission, said the sanctuary and pier were part of the state's deal with the county. The sanctuary was canceled because of drowning deaths, including 18 this year, nearly all of them on beaches without lifeguards. Unlike on the Atlantic coast, none of the state beach parks in the Panhandle is guarded. Mother cleared in overdoses NEW PORT RICHEY A woman accused of child neglect after her daughter and three other teens overdosed on drugs at her house won't face criminal charges. The Pasco County State Attorney's Office said Thursday it won't charge Kathleen McMenemy, 41, who was arrested Sunday after the four teens were hospitalized.

They have since been released. An investigation conducted after the arrest found McMenemy had no knowledge of the teens' drug use, and when she found them unconscious and twitching, she took reasonable steps to get help, Assistant State Attorney Mike Halkitis said. The incident occurred just hours after McMenemy was re- leased from jail on drug and alcohol charges Saturday. Compiled from staff and wire reports Bad weather hampers tornado cleanup efforts By DIANE LADE, TALABBADY and LEON F00KSMAN SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL By early Friday, the streets of the northern Palm Beach County neighborhoods hit hardest by a tornado the night before were filled with cleanup crews, making it hard to drive through streets already clogged with debris and downed trees. Although the power still was out, the skies were blue and the air was filled with the sounds of generators, chainsaws and residents talking about how amazing it was that there had been no fatalities in the sudden storm that may have left as many as 200 homeless, according to emergency workers.

But the mood, like the weather, shifted as the skies again blackened, the winds kicked up and it began to pour a little. "Get inside, everyone. You better go," screamed Lynne Hubbard, president of the Monroe Heights neighborhood association in Riviera Beach, to a group of residents clearing their yard. Out helping residents get in touch with emergency workers, she then ran inside a friend's home to protect herself. Although Thursday's disaster was a tornado instead of a hurricane, it was Florida's first emergency of the storm season, and the state swung into action.

Gov. Jeb Bush, from Tallahassee, declared a state of emergency in Palm Beach County on Friday, calling the storm a "major disaster." The order allowed state emergency officials to help county and local work- to comb the 3-mile swath that had been carved by the storm, said Mike Stone of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. State workers were joined by volunteers from the American Red Cross and Salvation Army, who Thursday night had opened two shelters and brought meals to residents who couldn't leave their homes. Law-enforcement officers spotted a tornado touching down at about 2 p.m. Friday near Canal Point, a small town north of Pahokee on Lake Okeechobee's east shore, prompting a tornado warning.

However, meteorologist Pablo Santos of the National Weather Service in Miami said the area was too remote for the twister to threaten people or homes. Similar weather may hamper recovery efforts today, with the forecast calling for a 60 percent chance of rain with afternoon thunderstorms. Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings and an assessment team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will arrive today.

Monroe Heights, one of the hardest hit residential neighborhoods, where 40 homes were damaged, consists mostly of black homeowners who work as teachers, drivers, maids and county workers. "I hope all this pulls our neighborhood together," said Anne Thomas, showing the grapefruit and lime trees leaning against her garage on West 26th St. "I don't know how we'll deal with it." Diane Lade, Tal Abbady and Leon Fooksman and reporters for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a Tribune Publishing newspaper. LOU TOMANSOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL Devastated. Mobile homes near Lake Park lie destroyed or damaged Friday after a tornado hit Palm Beach County on Thursday night.

Gov. Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency in the county, and state teams came in to help and to assess damage. ers assess the damage and help pro- Earlier Friday, half a dozen state vide services. emergency-response teams arrived COLORSTRIP: I.