Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 10

2 TIMES FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 1982 new Vandalism a growing problem at north Pinellas golf courses ClMrwaiar Tlitw Wrllf by vandals, said Todd. In the 14 years he has worked for the club, vandalism has been a growing and expensive problem. He said he knows of no solution. Golf course vandalism is not restricted to Pinellas County or even Florida. It's a nationwide problem, he said.

Todd and other area golf course superintendents say that it is not unusual for young people to ride bicycles and motorcycles on the courses at night. But people also walk on the courses at night, knocking over, breaking and even stealing flags, poles, markers and signs. They push over outdoor water fountains and try to pull sinks from bathroom walls. Pranksters also have been known to ride horses and drive cars on golf courses during night hours, 'officials said. "It gets expensive when you take a car over a $10,000 to $14,000 green," said Joe Clay, grounds superintendent of the Clearwater Country Club and Golf Course.

"We've had quite a problem here." It costs $200,000 a year to maintain the Clearwater Country Club's golf course, Clay said, and he added that no small amount of that money is spent on repairing damage. In a week's time, vandals have removed ball washers ($1,000 each), flag poles ($25 each) and several thousand wooden trap rakes, Clay said. "We have spent $200 a week in stolen flag poles alone," he said. Clearwater County Club officials decided to erect a 7-foot-high chainlink fence to discourage the vehicles and some of the pedestrian vandalism, Clay said. The fence will cost about $45,000.

"We look at it as a long-term investment," he said. "All you can do is keep your equipment locked up tight and put fences around gas tanks," said Mike Pritchard, grounds superintendent at Cove Cay Golf Course in Clearwater. "Just last week some kids hopped the fence along Haynes-Bayshore (Boulevard) and threw our tee blocks, signs and flags in the lake and broke a couple evergreen trees." Peter Lenhardt, owner of East Bay Country Club and Golf Course in Largo, said he squelched 75 percent of the vandalism when he closed the course's lake to all Ashing. "We have our share of bikers, joggers and even horses, but our singlemost irritant is -adults coming out on the course during the day, looking for balls," Lenhardt said. DUNEDIN Three timet in the last seven days vandals have damaged property at the Dunedin Country Club's 18-hole golf course.

Directional signs, course markers, ball washers and water fountains worth "hundreds of dollars" have been broken, stolen and destroyed, said Lee Todd, grounds superintendent. But this is nothing new to north Pinellas County golf courses. Officials at several local courses said Thursday that vandals cause thousands of dollars in damage a year. The Dunedin club spends at least $3,000 a year replacing and repairing damage wrought LeCher letter applauds diplomatic curbs on Soviets By LAURIE HOLLMAN Clwwmr Tim 8nH WriHf $75,000 in property taxes a year because of the Soviet estate. The City Council also cited reports that the mansion houses electronic eavesdropping equipment aimed at nearby firms in the aerospace industry.

The State Department is seeking legal ways to force Glen Cove to reverse its decision. And the Soviets have retaliated by prohibiting U.S. diplomats in Moscow from using a beach set aside for foreigners in the Soviet capital. "I am sure you have the support of all Americans who want to see the threat of communism stopped and reversed," LeCher wrote in his letter to Parentes, "to then grant tax-exempt status to those who have vowed to 'bury us' adds injury to insult." LeCher also wrote: "The situation we have in Clearwater bears uncanny parallels to yours, and I can sympathize with your feelings." Asked what the parallels are, LeCher said, "We have a group here that doesn't pay property taxes' "I'm not saying they are communists," he added quickly. The group he referred to is the Clear-water-based Church of Scientology, which claims to be tax exempt LeCher said he was moved to write the letter because "I am staunchly anti-communist." Indeed, the mayor has occasionally used his position on the commission to rail against the dangers of communism or to warn of Soviet expansionism.

During debate among commissioners earlier this year on a resolution asking for a nuclear freeze, LeCher declared several times that he does not "subscribe to the better-red-than-dead theory of diplomacy." Other letter writers to Glen Cove agree with the mayor. Maggie Polk, special assistant to Mayor Parente, said mail was running 400-25 in favor of the city's action. tirely appropriate for him to use commission stationery. His August 10 epistle has the Clearwater seal in the left-hand corner with "City Commission" printed below it. In the letter, LeCher told Glen Cove Mayor Alan Parent, "I applaud your patriotism, your values, and your courage to take a stand." Parente and the City Council became the center of an international controversy this May when they revoked the permits for certain Soviets to use municipal recreation facilities beaches, tennis courts and a golf course.

The Soviet mission to the United Nations owns a 36-acre estate in the Long Island suburb about 20 miles east of New York City. Like all diplomatic residences around the world, it is tax exempt This diplomatic exemption stuck in the craw of elected officials in Glen Cove facing a $2-million deficit in their city budget. They complained that their city was losing CLEARWATER Clearwater Mayor Charles LeCher has written the mayor of Glen Cove, N.Y., applauding the Long Island city's action barring Soviet diplomats from its beaches and tennis courts. At least one of LeCher's fellow commissioners is upset that the mayor used commission stationery to write Glen Cove. "I'd appreciate if it he did not use City Commission stationery to express his opinion," Commissioner Rita Garvey said Friday.

Garvey and LeCher, Democrat and Republican respectively, are not exactly known for their harmonious relationship on the commission, and there have been occasional flare-ups between them, especially since LeCher announced his candidacy for U.S. Congress in the 9th District. The mayor said his letter was "a mayor to mayor" communication, and it was en learuintsr times InrgD-seminoIe times 710 Court Street Clearwater, Florida 33516 News 461-7575 Retail Advertising 461-7575 Classified Advertising (Clearwater) 894-1141 (Tarpon Springs) 849-0044 or 848-3452 From areas in Florida outside Pinellas, Manatee or west Pasco counties, call Advertising Department's toll-free number: 1-800282-8530. Home Delivery (Clearwater) 893-8166 (Tarpon Springs) 849-0044. ext.

6166 or 849-4338 Robert Henderson Editor oe Childs City Editor Bonnie Merrill Limbach News Editor Gerald L. Goodman Retail Advertising Manager Michael Bracewell Asst. Retail Advertising Manager John Birk Classified Advertising Manager Gerry Weber North County Circulation Manager Gary Wilson Regional Public Service Coordinator Prisoner from Page 1 1 Helpful classified information this way! That'i where you'll find ClearwaterLorgo-Seminole Timei Classified Advertising placed by neighbor and businesses in your area, People you know and trust. under the conception that, if you're arrested for a crime, you're guilty." The inmate said a number of factors contributed tq his changing his pleas four years ago despite his innocence. For six months before the plea change, Consagra said, he was on heavy medication in a one-man cell at the county jail.

He was also undergoing intensive alcohol withdrawal, he said. "I no longer knew reality as you know it," he said. The inmate said he was intensely afraid of the electric chair, and his attorneys told him that, if he pleaded guilty to one murder charge and no contest to the other, his life would be spared. CONSAGRA SAID he was led to believe that his admission of guilt would mean a minimum number of years in prison. He said he was shocked when he was sentenced to two consecutive life terms.

During his years in prison, Consagra said, he told other inmates about his innocence, but they ignored him. "The people here said, 'Of course you're innocent. Everybody Consagra said. Consagra, who became a Christian, began writing letters to relatives. He finally convinced one to hire a private investigator Millwee.

Millwee said he became particularly interested in the case after administering a 6 'a -hour lie detector test to Consagra, which Millwee says Consagra passed. Now that Millwee's investigation has come to a close, there is little for him or Consagra to do but wait The hearing on the inmate's motion is expected within the next 30 days. experts say may have come from Consagra was found on Miss Holmes' body. Witnesses also charged that Consagra, Douberly and Miss Holmes frequently Argued about their relationship to a man who dealt in stolen property, a man who Millwee said now has been implicated as an accomplice by the confessor. Even though the man's criminal past was revealed during the investigation into the murders four years ago, he was never charged after Consagra's jailing.

Millwee contends that the sheriffs department overlooked the man as a possible suspect in the murders in its zeal to blame Consagra. The sheriffs department flatly denies the charge. Consagra also is angry over methods that he says the sheriffs department used before his conviction. The inmate said deputies and detectives harassed his wife daily before he changed his plea, threatening constantly to jail her and take away her son. Those charges also have been denied by the sheriffs department.

THE INMATE says the harassment of his wife and introduction of what he contends was phony evidence in 1978 has been a hard burden to bear during his four years at Avon Park. Consagra says the first several years were especially difficult, because his wife divorced him, and he used all his financial resources to pay his attorney's fees. No one listened to his claims of innocence. "The most frustrating part was that I couldn't get anybody to believe me," he said in a confident and articulate voice during a telephone interview. "I think most people are No matter what needs you have to fill or you want to sell, you'll be headed in the right direction when you start with Clearwa- terlarge-Seminole Times Classified! To place an ad, call 003-111 Clearwafertargo-Seminole Times Classified But the couple never returned, he said.

He waited all night for them and finally swam the half mile back to the fish camp, arriving there at about 7:30 on the morning of the 17th. He told employees at the fish camp that he didn't know what became of Douberly and Miss Holmes. On April 19 the fish camp owner joined the Coast Guard in a search for the rented boat. That day the bloated, naked bodies of Douberly and Miss Holmes were sighted lashed to the rented boat's engine near the spoil island. The boat was found submerged about a mile from where the bodies were discovered.

Douberly had been shot three times with a pistol, twice at close range. Miss Holmes had been shot twice at close range with a shotgun. Millwee said the confessor contends that she and the two men killed Douberly and Miss Holmes while Consagra was on another part of the island. The killers then removed their victims' clothing and dumped the bodies into the gulf. THE INVESTIGATOR said other evidence backs up the confessor's story.

For instance, he said the trajectories of the bullets into Douberly's body show that it is "highly improbable" that a person Consagra's size fired one of the shots. If the murderer fired from the hip or the shoulder, as is common, the person would have to be either much larger or much smaller than Consagra. The confessor is much smaller, Millwee said. The woman admitted to being one of the killers after Millwee confronted her with his findings on the bullets' paths, the investigator said. Millwee, who has been paid nearly $15,000 to study the case for the last year by a distant relative of Consagra's, said other witnesses he has interviewed have recanted testimony given in 1978 now that the woman has confessed to the murders.

But the state attorney's office and the sheriffs department say they stand by Consagra's conviction even though the confession and other evidence have been brought to light. THE STATE attorneys at the time of the investigation were Charles Cope and D. Lee Fugate. Both are now private attorneys in Pinellas County. Fugate said he recalls Consagra's attorney, Seymour Honig, as an excellent lawyer "who did everything but move the mountain to Mohammed" to free Consagra.

(Honig did not return telephone calls made to his office by a reporter.) Fugate added, however, that the prosecution had collected "very good evidence" against Consagra, even though it was circumstantial. That evidence includes a deposition from Charlie Flanders, a Hillsborough County man who lived close to Consagra in the Four Oaks area near Gunn Highway, that said Consagra had come over shortly before the killings to saw off a shotgun barrel. After using a pipe cutter to shorten the 16-gauge shotgun, Flanders said Consagra asked him what one could do to a pistol to prevent ballistics experts from knowing it had been fired. DEPOSITIONS from other witnesses contend that Consagra had threatened the life of Miss Holmes before the murders and that he may have raped her. A pubic hair that Under the Old Oak Tree In Clearwater, VERY NICE, Dayton Says Thank You Tampa Bay For 18 SMEAYHON CLEAN, EXCELLENT DRIVING 1964 PLYMOUTH VALIANT Wonderful Years) TODAY THRU SUNDAY COND.

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