South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • 3

PALM BEACH Local Florida 5 BULLETIN BOARD 2 OBITUARIES 6-7 WEATHER Sun-Sentinelcom Get The Latest Breakinq News South Florida sun-Sentinel Tuesday December 16, 2003 section School Board alters tax luroiuosal. Leaders torn on which levy to increase to pay for projects also has said that the sales tax is too risky, given the blow to the economy that would come from another terrorist strike in the United States. Proponents of the sales tax, including board member Monroe Benaim, said it shifts some of the burden to tourists and seasonal residents who live on luxury boats at local ports. The half-cent would generate $90 million a year, enabling the district to pay off the projects it needs in about seven years, much less time than re- TAX CONTINUES ON 4B BY MARC FREEMAN EDUCATION WRITER Following the advice of business leaders, the School Board on Monday moved closer to asking county voters in November to pass a half-cent sales tax increase to raise $560 million for school construction. Breaking from Superintendent Art Johnson's plans, the board voted unanimously to call off a March referendum to borrow the money by selling bonds and raising property taxes to pay off the debt.

Board members agreed to place a recent survey of county voters showed greater support forpassingasalestax increase on the general election ballot. "My gut and my instincts are that the referendum should be placed in March, however the numbers that we have been getting indicate that it should be in November," Johnson said. "So, I'm a little bit torn by that." School Board members Sandra Richmond and Debra Robinson both question on the November ballot but stopped short of deciding whether to ask voters to raise the sales tax or property tax. The Economic Council of Palm Beach County, a group of 1 50 top business executives, recom mended going with the additional half -penny sales tax last week. Since August, Johnson has been lobbying hard for a March bond referendum.

But he told the board Monday that a said they prefer a property tax, which would increase the bill to homeowners by $35 a year for each 1 00,000 of a home's value, over 20 years. "I'm not going to support a sales tax," Robinson said. "It disproportionately affects poor people." Johnson agrees that a sales tax increase does more harm to seniors, minorities and all people on limited incomes than a property tax boost. He loahatcbe National Wildlife Refuge Limbaugh tries to keep files private Boca Falls Palmetto Park Rd. PALM BEACH COUNTY BROWARD COUNTY By Peter Franceschina STAFF WRITER Rush Limbaugh's attorneys went on the offensive Monday in an effort to keep the conservative radio commentator's medical records sealed after they recently were seized by prosecutors investigating his prescription drug use.

Limbaugh's attorneys filed a court action asking a judge to review the propriety of the seizure of the medical records, which are under seal and haven't been reviewed by prosecu 1 1 .1... i i tors. They asked for a hearing in the next three days to assert Limbaugh's right to privacy and prevent prosecutors from gaining access to them. Limbaugh's attorneys couldn't be reached for comment late Monday. A spokesman for VM Limbaugh i i.

NO COLLAR REQUIRED: The Rev. Brian Shore addresses the SonFest congregation. Staff photosScott Fisher BASKING IS SON Staff graphic Principal clarifies schooFs purpose by Lois K. Solomon EDUCATION WRITER west boca Anxious about possible misconceptions, the principal of the new nigh school west of Boca Raton said on Monday that the school is not a "vocational" school but a comprehensive high school with three career academies and the same offerings as any other Palm Beach County high school. Principal Fran Giblin said the new West Boca Raton Community High School, under construction at the western end of Glades Road, is scheduled to open in August.

He has begun a series of neighborhood meetings with future students and their parents to detail how the school, which eventually will have about 2,000 students, will work and what it will offer. "The perception of the academies as vocational is false," said Giblin, formerly principal of neighboring Olympic Heights High School. The school will have three specialized programs that offer students from within and outside the attendance zone a chance to learn about information technology, culinary arts, and drafting and design. So far, applications have been slow in coming: fewer than 100 for 450 spaces. The deadline is Jan.

30. Giblin said the culinary program will offer professional training for future chefs in a setting that rivals the kitchens of the Boca Raton Resort and Club. Technology and design students will get a chance to create products and market them on the Internet, he said. But the school also will have honors and advanced-placement courses as well as band, art, athletics and offerings typical of any other high school, he said. Giblin said false information about the school's focus has been circulating among West Boca parents.

The talk surfaced again at the last Olympic Heights School Advisory Council meeting, SAC member Vicki Hewett said. More than 700 students from Olympic Heights' boundaries will be assigned to the new school, which is designed to relieve crowding at Olympic Heights and Spanish River high schools. "A lot of people initially did have the impression that it was a vocational school," Hewett Just Jesus is all right with them: Church has a single focus. Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer declined to comment. Limbaugh has not been charged with any crimes and has denied breaking any laws.

The motion seeking a hearing on the issue says Limbaugh already has been harmed by the details of the prescription drug investigation that were made public as part of the search warrants. "No citizen would wish these highly personal details to be held by minions of the state to finger through at their leisure. Nor would any sane person wish his medical diagnosis and medical prescriptions to be widely published on television shows, tabloid newspapers, Web sites and the like," the motion says. "Mr. Limbaugh has already suffered the indignity of watching a list of his doctors and medications dramatically leafed though on air by television One can only imagine the exposure these records will receive if the state is allowed ac-cesstothem." The motion also says limbaugh is prevented from getting proper medical treatment because all of his original medical records are in the hands of prosecutors.

In Florida, search warrants typically become public record lOdaysaftertheyare executed, and the four warrants in the Lim baugh inquiry became national news Dec. 4. The warrants named the doctors from whom the records were seized as well as listed hundreds of pain pills prescribed to Limbaugh in a six-month period. The warrants revealed authorities are looking into whether he violated the state's "doctor shopping" law by getting doctors to write overlapping prescriptions and failing to tell them about each other. From March to September, Limbaugh picked up 1,733 hydrocodone pills, 90 Ox-yContin pills, 50 Xanax tablets and 40 pills of Kadian time-release morphine the warrants show.

The court documents indicate that sometimes less than a week would lapse between different doctors' prescriptions for the painkillers. Limbaugh admitted in early October he was addicted to painkillers, a week after the media reported that his former housekeeper and her husband had supplied him with powerful prescription drugs. He checked himself into a treatment program and returned to the air in mid-November. Limbaugh's attorneys contend that Florida law allows for the subpoena of medical records in criminal and civil cases only after the patient has been notified and given an opportunity to contest it in court. The search warrants provided that prosecutors couldn't review the medical records until approved by a judge.

"ROCK" BAND: The SonFest Chapel Worship Band performs for the congregation in the Boynton Cinema, its home for the past three years. I tJ I by patty pensa ST A WRITER west boynton Forget the stiff pews, stuffy priests and formal church attire. There are none of those at SonFest Chapel. Instead, congregants sit in cushy movie theater seats and listen to a pastor who wears jeans and Hawaiian shirts. They sing modern Christian music and watch religious DVDs and PowerPoint slides.

For the weekly collection, they pass around one of the member's motorcycle saddlebags. SonFest Chapel, a re-emerging evangelical church affiliated with the Christian and Missionary Alliance, began conducting Sunday services at the Boynton Cinema west of Boynton Beach three years ago. The church's style is as unorthodox as its meeting place, but leaders and members couldn't care less: They're focused on boosting their congregation before building a house of worship. "People are more important than buildings," said the Rev. Greg Brown.

"To build a great church you need to build a great people." With its motto "No ties, no lies, no walls, just Jesus" the church has gained a steady following from its target demographic, Christians without a church or those whose experience at church prompted them to leave. Sonfest Chapel No Ties tion, leaders say. On Sunday, congregants mingled in the hall and munched on doughnuts and bagels. The service began shortly after 10 a.m. with two children reading a Bible passage and lighting an Advent candle, which Christians do in anticipation of Christmas.

The crowd of about 100 laughed as a DVD of Matthew's Gospel boomed in a deep Spanish voice. The mood stayed light as the band jammed out three Christmas songs. The band switched to a slow song of praise and many congregants closed their eyes and raised their arms to God. The Rev. Brian Shore kneeled in prayer then took a sip of his 7-Eleven SONFEST CONTINUES ON 28 NO VAU5 JUST Jzsus About 200 people, mostly from the Boynton Beach, Lantana and Lake Worth areas, are members.

Young adults and children compose 30 percent to 40 percent of the congrega I Ft 4 Peter Franceschina can be reached at 1 561-832-2894. ROLE CONTINUES ON 2B I HOWARD GOODMAN HAS THE DAY OFF. HIS COLUMN WILL RETURN SOON..