South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • 30

SOUTH PALM BEACH Sun-Sentinel Friday, March 2, 2007 PN wvm.sun-sentinel.compalm at; TESI NUCLEAR PRO Get tougher on Iran, Jewish activists urge. 3B laa SECTION EDITOR JOSEPH SCHWERDT 561 -243-665 1 BULLETIN BOARD 2 COMMUNITY NEWS 4-5 FLORIDA 8 OBITUARIES 8-9 WEATHER 10 MSStS 'cfaillM system Administrative judge urges police to use discretion in non-violent cases tojail, hesaid. Krischer and Public Defender Carey Haughwout said the problem lies with the state Legislature. Every year it comes out with more felonies that were once misdemeanors, even though misdemeanors move through the courts faster. "I don't know we're doing the right thing," said state Rep.

Richard Ma-chek, D-Delray Beach. "Bills are passed a lot of times. They sound good and make you look good but we end up putting the heavy burden on our judicial system that we can't afford to FELONIES CONTINUES ON 7B according to the State Attorney's Office. Of those cases, only half end up with jail sentences, Garrison said. He said that years ago if a police officer found a small amount of marijuana on someone, the drug would be trashed and the person sent home with a stern warning.

"You don't have to make every arrest you can," he said. "There may be a better alternative." Garrison said he felt this way for years as more and more minor felonies appeared before him. Even though judges often complain behind closed doors, he said, he spoke up now publicly because it is his last term inoffice. "I don't need your vote," he said. The police chiefs, federal and state officials agreed to form a subcommittee, headed by State Attorney Barry Krischer, to look at the issue.

Police said there is great pressure to enforce quality-of-lif crimes, such as prostitution and drug offenses. "It's our job to enforce the law," Juno Beach Assistant Chief Robert Daniels said. "We can't pick and choose which ones we're going to enforce." It's not all about going to jail the first time, Krischer said. It's about building a criminal history that will make it easier for a repeat criminal go By Jerome Burdi STAFF WRITER The administrative judge of the criminal division of the Palm Beach County Circuit Court told police chiefs on Thursday their departments' quickness to make felony arrests have wasted court time and put people in jail for the night who didn't need to be there. Judge Edward Garrison said police should use discretion in arrests and file charges with the state attorney first to see if the non-violent offense will stand up in felony court.

"We're clogging up the jail processing system," Garrison said. "We have so many trivial cases being charged with a felony that it is no big deal. In the old days when you were charged with a felony offense there was a good possibility of going to jail." Of 13,000 felony arrests last year, about 8,000 to 10,000 made it to court, I I ifi MMjJCMr 111,. I takesona I 7 Sun J'" -V ItZ. creates a SSr I SB I ftDuringatotal fc A- reddish shadow.

9hthe I I lunar KlinM i 4 shadow. Esrth moves directly QTfflfiiiLrffililffi jyT77 rays and the moon. lent II "tfe mtm 11 PALM BEACH COUNTY Convention center vote results in confusion Commissioners differ on what tasks they will assume BYDlANNACAHN 'STAFF WRITER If Palm Beach County commissioners voted Tuesday to take control of the convention center from the scandal-plagued Convention and Visitors Bureau, the decision was news to many of those who witnessed the vote. It was a surprise even to some who participated in the vaguely worded motion brought by Commissioner Karen Marcus. Commissioners debated for more than two hours over what action to take regarding the bureau, which was rocked by scandal in October by the discovery that an employee had stolen 1 .6 million.

The discussion fo- -a It will start as a giant dark blob on the horizon, then rise and turn russet if atmospheric conditions cooperate. cused on a recommendation by the Tourist Development Council, which oversees the bureau on behalf of the County Commission, that the county take the operations and short-term bOOk- "My understanding is we told staff to go back and put on paper what we DID YOU KNOW? Scientists say the moon was formed about 4.6 billion years ago from debris created after a planet-sized object glanced off the Earth. At only 14,000 miles from Earth, it would have been a massive sight in the night sky, were any humans around to observe it. The moon has been moving steadily away and is now about 280,000 miles away. center but leave long- IieeCl tO (10 II need to do we take over Addie Greene Commission Chairman term bookings in the bureau's hands.

"My intention in making the motion was to take over the es out of the umbra and its top edge reappears as a bright crescent. Because the eclipse will occur while the moon is low on the horizon, it will have ended by the time the moon rises over buildings and trees. Astronomers advise viewing it from the beach or a high-rise condo. Binoculars will help. While in shadow, the moon will shine a reddish copper or deep gray, depending on atmospheric conditions.

"It's hard to predict exactly which shade it will be," Grizzle said. "Nobody knows. It's like a blind date," said Jack Horkheimer, director of the Space Transit Planetarium at the Miami Science Museum and host of the popular astronomical television program Star Gazer. The full moon will look bloated as it crawls up from the horizon. The opti- ECLIPSE CONTINUES ON 2B by Robert Noun STAFF WRITER A celestial phenomenon will occur at sundown Saturday that could well serve as a film title for a western or psychological thriller: Red Moon Rising.

And it's one heavenly happening you won't have to flee west from city lights to observe. If you're on the beach around 6:30 p.m., you'll see a full, dark moon climbing slowly upward from the horizon, bathed in shadow, totally eclipsed. "It will appear very ominously in our eastern sky," said Woodrow Grizzle, planetarium director at the South Florida Science Museum in West Palm Beach. "It's going to be a challenge for sharp-eyed stargazers," said Arnold Pearlstein, director of the Space Place Planetarium for Miami-Dade schools. "You'll be sitting there going, 'Where is it? Where is The lunar eclipse, South Florida's first in more than two years, starts at 4:30 p.m.

By the time the moon breaks the horizon at 6:33, it will be completely covered by the Earth's shadow, or umbra. For 25 minutes, it will remain in the dark, until at 6:58, the moon ris convention center," Marcus said Thursday. "If it was a poorly shaped motion, someone should have flagged me." Commission Chairman Addie Greene thought she was voting on something different. "My understanding is we told staff to go back and put on paper what we need to do as commissioners once we take over the CVB and what we need to do if we take over to make it successful," she said. "We didn't vote on whether we are going to do it or not do it." Greene said she did not think she was voting on taking over the bookings, because that's not government's CONVENTION CONTINUES ON 2B New town's political forum is unusually revealing ZD Nudist resort hosts candidates in Loxahatchee Groves I r-1 2J which voted for incorporation in October.

But there were Sunsport-specific issues too, including questions about the rowdy teenagers on ATVs and environmental preservation. The latter is an important matter for a resort that prides itself on its native planting, solar panels and exotics removal program. At least one audience member drew attention to nudist issues. "What are your feelings about making Loxahatchee Groves clothing-optional?" asked Sunsport resident and employee Ted Apelt, while standing naked in the back of the room. He got a lot of laughs but no answer.

None of the council candidates would touch that one. But most Sunsport residents felt that as voters they were no different from their clothed counterparts. "I have a life outside here, but this is en surrounded the pool deck and played a lively game of petanque, a French version of boccie ball, before the forum started. Kids swam in the pool, which is for nude bathers only. The event at the 42-year-old resort attracted about 100 spectators, about half from outside the nudist resort, according to residents.

About 30 people were either naked or topless. The rare, innocent mix of skin and politics also drew five media photographers, two television news crews and a couple of newspaper columnists. Morley Schloss, Sunsport's owner and the forum's moderator, asked whether anyone minded having their photo taken. No one did. There were the usual Loxahatchee Groves concerns about how to handle code enforcement, nursery regulation and water safety in the new town, By Stephanie Horvath STAFF WRITER loxahatchee groves It was perhaps one of the only candidate forums ever where both the moderator and the timekeeper were naked.

Despite the flesh on display at the Sunsport Gardens Family Naturist Resort forum Thursday night, the Town Council candidates mostly managed to stick to the issues and avoid pointing out that the emperor really had no clothes. There was plenty of skin to be seen. Naked and half-naked men and wom MODERATOR: Morley Schloss listens to candidates for Loxahatchee Grove Town Council at Sunsport Gardens Family Naturist Resort About 1 00 people attended the forum on Thursday. Staff photoJim Rassol home. I'm concerned about the issues The forum was the third of four for like anyone else," said Greg Welch the Town Council election and the while standing naked outside the fo- first ever for Sunsport.

Only one of the rum. "My lifestyle has nothing to do with who I am as a person." SUNSPORT CONTINUES ON 2B tfu i in.