Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 31

01 Florida, 2-B Obituaries, 13-B section WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1986 0 ST. PETERSBURG TIMES Helicopter crash kills 2 in rural Pasco vr. mm 3 charged with molesting girl in 6th-grade class 1 LfT'V ft i By JOHN D. McKINNON and PATTI BRIDGES St. Petersburg Timet Staff Wrltert 1 v.

mi By ADAM NOSSITER St. Petertburg Timet Staff Writer i 4V Three sixth-grade boys have been arrested on charges that they sexually molested a 12-year-old classmate during a physical education class at a St. Petersburg middle school. School officials said the incident happened Monday afternoon in a corner of the Sixteenth Street Middle School gymnasium while the students' substitute teacher was preoccupied with a volleyball game. The alleged assault was the first that Pinellas schools security chief Joe Feraca could recall at a county school while classes were in session.

School administrator Lee Benjamin said the incident does not reflect on safety at the school. "It could have happened anywhere. It's unfortunate (if) the school gets the rap." said Benjamin, who oversees operations at the school at 701 16th St. and at 28 other schools in St. Petersburg and Pinellas Park.

The alleged assault occurred between 1:45 and 2:15 p.m. as 42 students in the class rotated in and out of a volleyball game from their seats in the gym's bleachers. School officials said one boy held the girl Please see MOLEST 14-B St Petersburg Timet JIM STEM A Pasco County Sheriff's Department worker inspects remains of the helicopter that crashed Tuesday in rural Pasco. Two people were burned beyond recognition in the wreck. QUAIL HOLLOW A helicopter crashed in a Pasco County field Tuesday afternoon, killing two people on board, authorities said.

The helicopter burst into flames when it hit the ground, and the bodies of the two on board were burned beyond recognition, the Pasco Sheriffs Department reported. Officials could not even identify the sexes of the two, spokesman Bob Loeffler said. They will probably have to use dental records to identify the bodies. The flames, and the impact, destroyed all markings on the Hughes 500c copter. Both the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the sheriff's department had difficulty identifying the craft.

But "circumstantial evidence" indicates a that similar helicopter left Jacksonville and arrived at a motor home sales store in Tampa on Tuesday afternoon, Loeffler said. He declined to say what that evidence is. An employee of Mitchell Motor Home Sales took a photograph of a Hughes 500c copter before it left the helicopter. There was little about the charred, twisted wreckage lying off Pasco Road on Tuesday to identify it as a helicopter. A rear rotor fin lay about 10 feet away from the main pile of wreckage, and flames had burned away vegetation around the rubble.

Eleanor Terry said she saw the helicopter circle Please see CRASH 14-B the store around 3 p.m. Tuesday, Loeffler said. The Pasco helicopter crashed about 3:25, and it also is a Hughes 500c, the FAA said. But officials are not certain that the craft that left Tampa and the one that crashed in Pasco are the same, Loeffler said. The FAA doesn't know why the helicopter crashed, supervisor Eddie Catt said.

Catt said he knew nothing about a possible Jacksonville origin for mourn i 1ti NH snriDEns -u I. I t- If a rare bird that isn't moved by animal babies I was standing in a corridor of the new baby animal nursery at Busch Gardens when a warm little hand crept into mine. I looked down, and a 6-year-old chimpanzee named Abigail smiled up at me. Pretty blue lips crept up over' strong white teeth. Abigail has a smile that absolutely melts th.3 heart j'once you get used to those By and by, I stooped down, and Abigail nuzzled my cheek, keeping hold of my hand all the while.

I straightened up after a time. She never let go of my hand. Her grasp was pleasantly firm but demanding. She seemed determined to hold onto my hand for the foreseeable future. "I'd just as soon you let go," I said kindly.

She gave me another of her smiles and held on. Suddenly, I was remembering long-ago dances, unwillingly attended when I was 12 or 13. Holding hands with girls and not much liking it. Hands sweating then, just as ours were now. Could this be do chimps perspire Suddenly Abigail turned from me and threw her arms around one of the Busch Garden attendants.

I was relieved, then miffed. "Hey, Abigail," I said plaintively. She gave me another nice smile, but I understood. It was all over between us. On the rebound, I looked for more fresh young animal faces.

There were plenty on hand Tuesday, for it was opening day for the Nairobi Field Station Animal Nursery. Last year, more than 1,200 babies were born or hatched at Busch Gardens. And 344 were brought to the animal nursery, because they were ill or hurt, or their mothers would not take care of them. The newest patient was a 5-hour-old addax, whose mom was simply not ready for domesticity. The addax is a hoofed animal with plenty of horn potential.

But its reviews are mixed. "Nasty from Day One in its life," says nursery attendant Pandy Browning. "Even before it has horns, Please see SANDERS 14-B St Petertburg Timet KATHLEEN CABBLE St. Petersburg firefighters battle the flames that gutted the former Sunshine Kidney Foundation Thrift store in Central Plaza early Tuesday. Two vacant stores destroyed; no one apparently is hurt By CHARLA CRIBB St Petertburg Timet Staff Writer search one store for bodies as a precaution, Callahan said.

For the past two months, members of the St. Petersburg Fire Prevention Bureau, a division of the St. Petersburg Fire Department, have made nearly daily trips to Central Plaza to roust vagrants from empty stores, Callahan said. "We were afraid someone was going to get hurt in there," he said. Monday night's warm weather Please see FLAMES 14-B Chief Jerry Knight.

Twelve hours later, debris in two fire-gutted stores still smoldered. By dusk Tuesday, when firefighters left the scene, the cause of the fire still was undetermined. But the fire was "considered suspicious" and authorities were investigating whether an arsonist set it, said St. Petersburg Fire Marshal Jim Callahan. Although no injuries were reported and no bodies had been found by Tuesday evening, fire officials said there was a possibility that transients could have been trapped in the fire.

They were planning to A fire Tuesday morning at Central Plaza destroyed two vacant stores in the south strip of the shopping center and caused what fire officials estimated to be $50,000 to $75,000 damage. About 65 firefighters fought the blaze at First Avenue between 32nd and 34th streets for four hours after the fire department got an anonymous telephone tip at 3:53 a.m., said St. Petersburg Fire sunrise DIGEST Tl Investigators say 6 deaths probably aren't connected By DAVID PLOTT St. Petertburg Timet Staff Writer I Summer makes December appearance The heat that has dogged the Suncoast throughout the fall returned full bore Tuesday. The high of 84 at St.

Petersburg's Albert Whitte'd Airport tied the record for Dec. 9, set in 1972. Relief may arrive by Friday if a cold front has the strength to push through the bay area, forecasters say. If the front does come through, Friday and the weekend could be cooler but with a good chance of rain. The forecast for today is for partly cloudy skies and a 20 percent chance of showers.

Highs should be in the mid-80s and lows ranging from the mid-60s in northern and inland areas to the upper 60s along the coast. Patchy fog is likely early in the mornings. Winds will be from the south at 10 to 15 mph. How about a jelly doughnut? CRYSTAL RIVER Next month, Ed Sanderson will blend hundreds of pounds of sugar and doughnut mix, pipe 300 to 500 gallons of apple-raspberry jelly into the concoction and sprinkle it all with powdered sugar. Sanderson is planning a doughnut with a 1 6- to 20-foot diameter; its weight is expected to fall between 1,000 and 1,200 pounds.

"I made a 4-footer once, but I had to cut a window out to get it out of my building," said Sanderson, owner of Ed's Three Little Bakers. The giant doughnut will be used as a promotion for the "No Snow Winter Festival," a drug-awareness project of the Chemical Task Force of Citrus County on Jan. 10 and 11. Correction, Section Donald Ziccardi is senior vice president for marketing for Robinson's department stores. His name was misspelled in a story Saturday.

More Sunrise Digest, 14-B i rfi Miss Collins and Ms. Matthews were found along secluded roadsides, clothed and partially covered by sheets. Miss Collins' car, with the keys inside, was found abandoned in a shopping center parking lot in the Carrollwood area. Ms. Matthews' car, with the lights on, was discovered abandoned in a post office parking lot in Land O'Lakes.

Ms. Matthews worked in Tampa as a data entry specialist at the regional offices of the NCNB National Bank, at 5519 Idlewilde a bank spokesman said Tuesday. She worked the 4 p.m.-to-mid-night shift Thursday night; her body was found Friday morning. Sheriff's investigators in both counties are comparing evidence but don't expect to come to any conclusion until autopsy reports are available, said Hillsborough sheriff's Maj. John Cacciatore.

Meanwhile, the killings of three other women found dumped in the Hillsborough River in 1985 and 1984 remain unsolved, Cacciatore said. Two of the women, Lisa Eisman and Kim Vaccaro, both 20, were found April 2, 1985, just southwest of Interstate 75. Both women were clothed. The other woman, Connie Louise Please see DEATHS 4-B TAMPA Investigators in Hillsborough County said Tuesday they don't think there is a connection between the unsolved deaths of six women found dumped in Hillsborough and Pasco counties. Three of the women were found within the past week.

The body of 17-year-old Stephanie Anne Collins was discovered early Friday in northeastern Hillsborough County. The body of Teri Lynn Matthews, 26, was also found Friday in Pasco County. The nude body of Brenda Tyrrell, 33, was found Monday beside a railroad track in the 9400 block of 14th Street, near Busch Boulevard. Autopsy results on all three women have not been released, but officials in Pasco County have attributed Ms. Matthews' death to "blunt trauma." Although authorities in the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department and the Tampa police department said there appeared to be no connection between Ms.

Tyrrell's death and those of the two women discovered Friday, investigators are looking into similarities in the cases. St Petersburg Timet ERIC MENCHER Nursery worker Tracey Giliis cuddles a diapered, year-old chimp named Twiggy..