The Miami News from Miami, Florida • 19

5A MondayApril 28, 1980 The Miami Cm duu sot its qy ick to jydge "TT 1 9 it if If Some increase rates before case is tried Briefly Miami passengers hurt on Air Canada flight About 30 persons aboard an Air Canada flight from Miami to Toronto were taken to a hospital in Toronto for treatment of injuries suffered yesterday when the plane was Jolted by air turbulence, an airline official announced. Air Canada spokesman John Cavill said some of the passengers complained of bruises and shock and they were taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure. He said Flight 2913, which left Miami at about noon yesterday, was over Jacksonville when it hit a pocket of clear-air turbulence that could not be detected by radar. Passengers who did not have their seat belts fastened were tossed around and several flight attendants also were hurt, Cavill reported. He said the captain decided to fly on to Toronto because none of the injuries were serious.

IAN GLASS Miami Mtwi Rtpartar Ted Kennedy stops by Sen. Edward Kennedy brought his presidential campaign to Florida briefly, jetting Into Miami for a fund-raising reception yesterday afternoon, then leaving immediately afterward for Mexico City. The Massachusetts Democrat was to meet with Mexican President' Jose Lopez Portillo to discuss issues common to the two nations, especially the influx of illegal Mexican aliens in the Southwest. The Miami reception, attended by about 60 people, was at the home of lawyer Marvin Rosen, the financial chairman of the senator's Florida campaign. Kennedy made a few brief remarks and chatted with the crowd for about 45 minutes.

TIH Wivn NfW MICHAEL DELANtY Michael Smith can smile now, but he had some bad moments over his insurance premium Michael Frederick Smith was horriflrd to learn that his auto Insurance company had found him guilty of speeding months before he was to appear in traffic court to answer the charge. Smith decided he might not be In good hands when his Allstate agent told him the cost of his policy on his BMW would increase by 300 to $100 he-cause of a speeding ticket, "He told me the company was going to rewrite the policy," Smith said. "They wcren even waiting for the judge's ruling When Smith, 28, went to court with his lawyer, Christopher Rundlc, on Feb. 14 several continuances and seven months after getting the ticket County Court Judge Charles Edelstein found him not guilty. Only by sending a copy of Edelstein's order to Allstate did Smith have the premium increase rescinded and then only because Rundlc stressed to the judge that the words "Not Guilty" must appear on the order.

Smith said 'the company will not accept verdicts like "Adjudication Withheld" or "Dismissed," even though the defendant has been found innocent. Not quite so, said Gene Klompus, a spokesman for Allstate. If a citation can be proved to have been dismissed, the surcharge will be rescinded "despite the fact he may have been guilty, but the charge had to be dismissed for lack of prosecution. "But if an insured pleads no contest, and the judge withholds adjudication, we have to take another look at the situation. "If we find out someone has not hern convicted, we remove the surcharge as soon as possible.

But the burden Is on the insured to inform us. We can't call every courthouse to check." Edelstein, who said he has had a number of similar complaints from traffic offenders in his court, said he is "disturbed, to say the least," by the practice. Klompus retorted: "This is In line with the Florida statute under which we operate, though the statute itself is somewhat ambiguous. There may be other reasons why a company surcharges or cancels a policy." Under Florida Statute 626.9541, the insurer must Inform the insured that he is entitled to reimbursement if he is not convicted. "We try hard to find out if there has been a conviction, but it is often difficult," Klompus said.

"If we can't, we inform the person of his rights. Unlike the court process, where you are innocent until found guilty beyond all reasonable doubt, the burden is on you to prove to your insurance company that you are not guilty." State Farm, the largest auto insurer in Florida with more than a million policyholders, does not surcharge Its customers for moving violations. "We put on surcharges only for accidents where the damage is in excess of $200," said Ron Arnold, spokesman for State Farm at its headquarters in Bloomington, 111. "But not for violations liKc speeding." GEICO, among the top six auto insurers in Florida, penalizes policyholders only if a moving violation causes an accident. Surgery for pit bull victim An 8-year-old Hollywood boy will undergo plastic surgery today after having been mauled by a 40-pound pit bulldog.

Timmy Shealy was visiting his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Guy Salter, at their North Dade home this weekend when the dog tore a quarter-size chunk of flesh from the boy's cheek and scratched and bruised his body before his grandmother and a neighbor were able to rescue him. The owner of the dog, Diane Jennings, said the animal had been harassed before the attack. How to protest a surcharge If you think your insurance company has unfairly slapped a surcharge on your policy, you can complain to the local office of Stale Insurance Commissioner Bill Gunter.

Tom Lawler, deputy commissioner in the Miami office, will assign a field represeniative to look into vour case. You can call Lawler at But the surcharge practice by Allstate, the second largest auto insurer in Florida with 656,000 policyholders, is followed by other companies. Paul Diener, office manager of Miami's Kennedy and Fly an agency handling a half-dozen insurance companies, said all of them review policyholders' recent records before renewing policies and add a surcharge on any that show moving violations. One lawyer who went before Edelstein for speeding and was found not guilty told the judge thai her insurance company had already added $25 to her policy. Edelstein was so incensed that he wrote to the office of Bill Gunter.

the state insurance commissioner, to point out that some insurance carriers "have been raising their insurance rates after a dismissal of a traffic charge for lack of prosecution or following a judgment entry of finding of guilt and a withhold of adjudication." Edward Moore, an insurance analyst in Gunter's ol-fice, wrote back to Edelstein and noted that "about il!) per cent of the automobile insurance carriers we license in Florida show in their filings with us in their underwriting rules that surcharging may be done only upon conviction of a traffic "Even the Joint Underwriting Association (which handles high-risk drivers) requires a conviction for surcharging," Moore wrote. "The practice is legal under the statute," he said, "but if we find rule violations, we order the company to make refunds." In case you were wondering how your insurance company knows when you get a ticket. Tom I.awler, deputy commissioner in Gunter's Miami office, said the ticketing process is recorded in the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles in Tallahassee before adjudication. The information also is made available to the more than 500 insurance companies in Florida via computer, he said, "and they look only at the charge, nut the adjudication." I.awler advises policyholders who receive notice of a surcharge and who subsequently are found not guilty to send a copy of the adjudication to the insurer. That is what Smith did, but only on the advice of Rundle, his lawyer.

Most drivers seem to be unaware of the procedure until it is too late and they find their premiums increased. Rundle said: "I think this is a violation of every fundamental rule of law." Tornado hits Cudjoe Key Winds reaching up to 78 miles an hour blew through the Florida Keys yesterday, dumping rain and bringing front Into the state. A tornado blew through Cudjoe Key, 22 miles northeast of Key West, injuring 10 persons at a trailer park where 80 mobile homes were overturned or blown Into the water by the winds. According to Gil Clark, forecaster at the National Hurricane Center, the storm was caused by a cold front which started in Canada and was formed over the Southern Plains states. Skies were expected to be clear today and tomorrow, with temperatures reaching into the 80s both days and dropping to the high 60s at night.

Man, 23, fatally shot A 23-year old Miami man was shot and killed yesterday after he became involved in an argument with several other people at 417 NW 4th St. in Homestead, police said. Another individual involved in the argument left, then returned with a small-caliber handgun and shot the victim, police said. The name of the victim was being withheld until notification of next of kin. 'Bird Road rapist' suspect finally going on trial The rapist's modus operandi was to blink his lights at women's cars.

They would stop, thinking it was a police car. Then the rapist, gun in hand, would draw alongside, force them into his car and assault them. Some two dozen women in two years went to police with stories of their encounters with the rapist. All but four of them escaped in their cars. The rapist's victims have placed him in a Grand Prix, a Monte Carlo, a Buick, an Oldsmohile, or a Chevy Impala.

The color was either brown, gold, bronze or blue. After he was arrested, Metro detectives put Diaz in a lineup with five other men, including an undercover detective. Drucker says the eight women mentioned in the charge identified Diaz. Black says that only five of the two 'dozen women identified Diaz, one said Diaz possibly weas the rapist, one said either Diaz or another man in the lineup was, and four picked someone who looked like Diaz, but was taller. Three pointed their finger at the undercover cop, Black says.

Drucker refuses to comment on the apparent inconsistencies. "It's a frustrating case, to say the least," says Black. "We've been beating the bushes for solid evidence, anyone who could have seen the attacker. But who's around at that time of night? "And juries are impressed by eyewitness identifications. The only people who can give Diaz alibis are his family." pressed," Black says.

"No judge could possibly have granted him bond" because many of the charges carry a potential life sentence, says Ken Drucker, the assistant state attorney who will prosecute Diaz. The circumstances surrounding Diaz' being charged as the Bird Road rapist were confusing. Several of the victims said he spoke fluent English with a slight Latin accent. Other victims said he had a definite Latin accent. One woman said he told her during the attack that "all Cuban women are bitches." Metro detective Joseph Daniels, who interrogated Dia-, said, the Cuban replied to his questions in good English, then later told him, "No speak English." Other officers present said the same.

All of the people to whom Black has talked and who know Diaz intimately say he speaks Spanish exclusively and knows only a few words of English. That includes his neighbors, I.ila's manager, Angel Navarro, and other restaurant workers. Descriptions of the Bird Road rapist vague he-cause he warned all of the women not to look at him during the attacks vary from 5-foot-6 and less than 160 pounds to 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds Black says that Diaz is 5-foot-3-inches and 130 pounds. "He's almost a dwarf," Black says. From what the women could see of his face, he had a ruddy complexion, gray hair, thick brown hair and perhaps a mustache.

Some said his hair was curly, some said it was straight. He spoke quietly, calmly, said one victim. "I never saw such a mean look on anybody's face in my life," said another. IAN GLASS Miami Ntwt RcperUr The little man who it accused of being the Bird Road rapist was to have his day In court today after languishing in the Dade County Jail for the last eight months. Luis Diaz, a 41-year-old restaurant cook and father of three, faces an array of charges before Circuit Court Judge Joseph Durant: Four rapes, four kidnapings, three aggravated assaults, two robberies, one attempted kidnaping, burglary, assault, battery, and using a firearm in a felony.

The charges allege that two to five felonies were committed against each of eight female victims. Nearly all of the incidents involving the Bird Road rapist, as he came to be called because the incidents-all occurred near Bird Road in southwest Miami, were carried out between midnight and 5 a.m. from July 1077 to July 1979. Diaz' wife of 18 years, Caridad, told the Dade State Attorney's Office that Diaz couldn't possibly have committed the crimes because she dropped him off at work at I.ila's Restaurant, 8518 Coral Way, every day at 3 p.m. and picked him up eight hours later.

If he wasn't at work, she told prosecutors, he was at home. And he never owned a gun, she said. Diaz' attorney, Roy Black, says the allegations about Diaz are "totally inconsistent with what I've learned about this man. I could believe my brother had done these things before I would Diaz." Diaz, who came here from New Jersey five years ago and bought a $47,500 home at 7971 SW 37th has been in jail eight months and has become "very de Redford seeks re-election James Redford, District 6 Dade County commissioner, has announced he is running for for re-election. A commissioner for almost six years, he is also chairman of the Property Appraisers' Adjustment Board.

Teller accused of stealing A federal grand jury returned an eight-count indictment against Mildreada Andrews, a teller at several Dade County financial institutione during a two-year period. The indictment charges that Andrews, also known as Mildreada Ruiz, stole more than $21,000 from three banks and a savings and loan association. She is charged with having used customers' account numbers on blank counter checks and forging customers' signatures and bank officers' initials to deposit the money in her own account. She worked at the First Federal Savings and Loan Association Dadeland branch, the Pan American Bank of Kendall, the Royal Trust Bank South Dade branch and the Capital Bank Coconut Grove North Miami shuttle starts The North Miami shuttle, the first limited bus service of its kind in Dade County, was inaugurated today after nine months of planning. The shuttle service, designed to meet the local transit needs of North Miami residents, will run for six months on an experimental basis.

If it proves successful, similar local-area routes will be set up in other Dade communities. The shuttle will run hourly, Monday through Friday, between Griffing Park and the San Souci area, with stops at several shopping and activity centers. The fare is 25 cents. To obtain details of the route, call the Metro Transit Agency at 638-6700. 1 'iff I It i A i At, i i iJi ",1 1 Two hurt in auto chase One person was hurled over the hood of a burglary suspect's car and a second was dragged under the auto during a chase in Northwest Dade Involving a dozen police cars.

Doretha Rolle, 32, who was dragged under the car, and Glen Witch-er, who was thown over the hood, were admitted to Jackson Memorial Hospital. Police arrested Tyrone Rolle, 25, and charged him with burglary, aggravated assault on police, fleeing police, and several traffic violations. Doretha Rolle was listed in serious condition this morning. 1'f "a i tv Yi-i4 4 jm2-j 1 II II I Th Miami Ntwl MX RIMKUS Midsummer Night's Dream Writing conference starts today Miami-Dade Community College's three-day conference on writing starts today. Speakers at the sessions include Nobel prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer, Bantam Books vice president Rollene Saal and Pulitzer Prize winner David Hal-berstam.

The conferences is being held at the New World Center Campus, 300 NE 2nd Ave. For more Information about free sessions, call 596-1223. 41 On the 39th aniversary of the wedding of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Hoover Lacey Hoover and Miami attorney Robert Haggard (above) celebrate their own wedding during a dinner-reception Saturday at Indian Creek Country Club.

The moonlight over the patio during the festivities seemed made to order for the event, which featured wedding music from "A Midsummer Night's Dream." i W.t.