Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 16

ST PETERSBURG TIMES THURSDAY AUGUST 20 1987 3B Witnesses describe drug bust, shooting sunconst DIGEST Officer says defendant in murder trial was nearby as shots fired By PAT MEISOL Tun Staff Wrttw TT ,4 1 I s-r 1 Crvstal River Inverness CITRUS BrooksvtUt Sprmg Hill HERNANDOf i Dade Oty i PASCO 1 Release ordered in ex-pitcher case TAMPA A federal appeals court has ordered the release of Seymour Sher, who was a co-defendant in the racketeering trial of former baseball star Denny Mclam. Sher's bail was set at $250,000. Mclam and Sher recently won a new trial from the 11th S. Circuit Court of Appeals. McLain's attorney.

Arnold Levine of Tampa, said his office Wednesday filed a similar bail request on McLain's behalf. New Port Richey LutI HILLSBOROUGH CWarvuler Tampa Timet photo UNOA LONO, The murdered officer's partner, Harry A. Herbst, left, took the stand for more than an hour on Wednesday. Above, defendant William Haake, left, and his attorney, James Martin, confer. Brandon PINELLAS bungled drug bust that ended his partner's life.

Sullivan's wife, parents and other relatives listened to 28 witnesses, most of them police officers, describe the August 1980 drug deal, the murder of the 30-year-old officer and the manhunt CLEARWATER Driving by a motel moments before a planned drug bust seven years ago, then-Sgt. Troy Hitchcox saw the target. William G. Haake, walking toward an undercover police officer in a pickup truck. Within 30 seconds, the time it took Hitchcox to circle the block, three gunshots rang out.

When the St. Petersburg police sergeant arrived at the scene, undercover officer Herbert Ray Sullivan lay dying, and Haake was gone. So was a briefcase with $65,000 that police had on hand to buy a kilo of cocaine from Haake and a young cook, Sanimie Lee Mathis, who later admitted being a hired trigger man. Five police backup units were supposed to be watching the undercover officer from the parking lot of the Save Inn Motel on 54th Avenue near Interstate 275, Hitchcox said Wednesday at Haake's murder trial. But "no one had any information" about what happened when the supervising sergeant arrived.

Thinking they would be too easily sighted, "Each one backed off. They assumed the next one would take over," Hitchcox testified. Dozens of law enforcement officials milled around the courthouse Wednesday as Sullivan's partner, Harry A. Herbst. took the stand for more than an hour, describing the from other witnesses that police; after a "conversation" with Mathis on the night of the murder, recov ered $100 bills from the glove conu partntent of Haake's car at Tampa International Airport.

The serial numbers of the bills matched those of the bills police had put in the briefcase for the drug buy, witr nesses said. After the testimony ended Wednesday, Haake remained in thf courtroom with his brother, hij lawyer and four bailiffs, to inspect tickets, hotel receipts, copies vk $100 bills and other evidence used by prosecutors. Haake was arrested in Spain ii 1981. He spent four years in prisop on drug charges before being extradited to Pinellas in March to stand trial for Sullivan's murder. i ing a plan to murder Sullivan and steal the $65,000.

A few days before, in meetings with undercover officers, Haake had counted and weighed the money, Officer Herbst testified Wednesday. Haake also boasted of having access to 50 kilos of cocaine a month, though the cocaine he was selling turned out to be sugar. Heibst said. There was no evidence that Haake knew he was dealing with police officers. But several days before the murder, Herbst said, the moped shop owner asked the officers if they were cops, and they slid no.

Mathis, serving a life sentence for the murder, testified in 1980 at his own trial that Haake hired him to pull the trigger. It is not known whether he will return to the stand this week. The jury heard Wednesday William Haake is accused of devising a plan to murder Herbert Ray Sullivan and steal $65,000. that followed. Prosecutors are expected to call a similar number of witnesses today.

Haake, who prosecutors said was on the verge of financial ruin at the time, is accused of mastermind Milk shortage blamed on weather Merchants oppose oaks, prefer palms CLEARWATER Some Clearwater merchants have collected nearly 1 ,500 signatures on a petition opposing the planting of oak trees in front of their businesses. They would rather have palm trees, said Lillian Trickel of Tnckels Jewelers, who started the anti-oak campaign. "Oak trees are pretty; don't get me wrong," said Terry Flowers, owner of the Happy Balloon Co. "But some merchants are concerned about the amount of leaf shedding by those oaks." Parks director Ream Wilson said he never expected that anyone would object to his agreement with the state Department of Transportation to plant trees downtown. He said the city is working on a plan to plant about 45 trees of various kinds.

The plan does not include palm trees because they are too expensive to maintain, he said. Community college plans drug tests OCALA Central Florida Community College this fall will begin random drug tests among student organizations that perform publicly. Of the about 150 students in athletics, music, drama and the like, 5 percent will be randomly selected for urine samples, said Bud Gilligan. dean of student development. Failing a test will mean drug counseling and suspension for 14 days from the performing group.

Gilligan said. If students' behavior arouses suspicion that they are still using drugs, they may be given a second test, he said. Students who fail again will be permanently suspended from their groups and will lose school-provided financial assistance, including scholarships, Gilligan said. Ocala is in Marion County, northeast of Inverness. Encounter in house brings assault charge SPRING HILL An East Pasco man who came home from work and found his wife with a 72-year-old man has been charged with aggravated assault for hitting and pointing a rifle at the man, authorities said.

According to an arrest report, this is what happened: Billy Wayne Taylor, 44. found his wife, Linda. 33, with their mutual friend, Stanley Bish, on Tuesday. Taylor punched Bish in the face, then took out a rifle and loaded it. Taylor waved the gun in the air and threatened to kill Bish.

Mrs. Taylor said she told her husband, "Don't, you'll get in trouble." Meanwhile. Bish slipped out the door. A friend picked him up and drove him to a convenience store, where he phoned the sheriff office and reported the incident. Taylor was released on his own recognizance Wednesday.

Job shifts linked to center investigation DADE CITY The superintendent and an employee have been temporarily reassigned in connection with an investigation at the new Pasco Juvenile Detention Center, state officials said Wednesday. State Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (HRS) officials declined to be specific about the investigation. Center superintendent J. Fred Rhoden was moved to the Pinellas County Juvenile Detention Center, and employee Mary C. Zifer was shifted to a separate HRS office in Dade City, said Pegi Hollingsworth of HRS.

"It's kind of like going to neutral corners." said Connie Ruggles. public information director for HRS in Tallahassee. In an interview Wednesday. Mrs. Zifer, 36, said the department investigation is related to a series of incidents last month in which a supervisor harassed her sexually.

Compiled by STEVE MILLBURQ from staff reports ii II 3 p-4 1 1 'JP 1 4 V' (f; Hp- iV' A MP lifjtf I i Group revamps goals for beach restoration projects yftv -V'-' Cft By WILLIAM FOX Thtwi Staff Wrttar By STEVAN ALLEN Thimi ttK Wntor The co-op of dairy farmers that supplies the Tampa llay area with 70 percent of its milk says it's having hard time getting its product. But the state of Florida says milk production is up 3 percent this While these claims seem to bo contradictory, both are true. "Sure we're looking at an in crease (in production)," said stale, agricultural statistician Aubrey lloi delon. "But we consume more thaii we produce. There's no contradiction.

There can still be a shortage when we're depending on other to supply us during our low produr tion periods." In 19Hf, Florida relied on olliw states for alxiut 2f percent of its milk supply. But those states now are producing less milk because of hot summer weather. A federal program to buy out dairies also has cut milk production in other states. Add to that the drop in Florida milk production during the summer. The average milk cow produces about 100 gallons in August and September, Bordelon said, compared with about 1 16 in spring and winter months.

Total production could top last year's record 2.r0,000 gallons at the rate Florida dairy cows are producing, the state says. "The production per cow keeps going up in accordance with the nar tional trend," Bordelon said. Better nutrition and breeding have contributed to the increased production, which has been steady over the last six years, he said. The shortage caused the Tampa Indcjiendent Dairy Farmers Co-op to raise its price of raw milk 60 cents per 100 pounds Sunday. Industry officials said that increase could translate into an 8-cent-per-gallon increase if the full amount is passed on to the consumer.

One major gnx-ery store chain, Kash n' Karry, raised its milk prices 6 cents on the gallon Monday, The Tampa co-op, one of three in Florida, has been unable to find milk from its usual out-of-state sources', co-op agent Kiley llogan said Tuesday. "Not only have we been hit with high temperatures in recent weeks, but the whole Kastern Seaboard has been hit," Bordelon said. That milk is perishable is also factor in causing a shortage, he said "You can't store it. When you need i(. you need it," Bordelon said.

The demand on Florida's milk supply jumps with the opening of public schools in late August, said Bordi-Ion. Accordingly, wholesale price have shown a pattern of rising during the summer and dropping again in the fall, he said. But the wholesale prirj for 100 pounds of milk in Florida remains about $4 higher than the national average, Bordelon said, our projects the good side and the bad side." He also said many state leaders think beach restoration is a waste of money that it never works. That attitude "permeates the highest levels of state government," he said. The 1986 law, Dean said, was passed in reaction to extensive beach erosion from storms the previous two years, including Hurricane Elena in 1985.

"We must be careful about waiting for a storm to get legislative action," he said. "We have to provide legislators with ammunition to counter the false claims that we saw so much of this last session." In another presentation Wednesday, the association was told the state is moving forward on plans to increase public access to Florida beaches. The governor and Cabinet appointed a beach access committee in June to draw up legislative recommendations on the issue, said Paden E. Woodruff, engineering supervisor of the Division of Beaches and Shores. Woodruff directed a study of beach access that the Department of Natural Resources presented to the governor and Cabinet in April.

Among its proposals is that money from the Save Our Coasts program be used to purchase small parcels of prime beach property for public use. "The quality and quantity of public beach access has a direct impact on local economies," Woodruff said. "Beach access is a difficult issue. It is one local and state governments are going to have to address." AMELIA ISLAND For beach restoration proponents, this has been a year of lessons in political realities. Last year's annual meeting of the Florida Shore Beach Preservation Association was an upbeat affair, with much praise for the Reach Management Law enacted by the 1986 Legislature.

There was talk of not having to use federal dollars and of millions in state money for beach restoration and renourishment. This year's meeting, which began here Wednesday, has a more subdued tone. There is talk of a need to work closely with the Army Corps of Engineers and of a need to educate legislators and the public on the successes of beach programs. The 1987 Legislature appropriated 1 0.5-million for beach management, less than a third of what had been sought, said Kirby Green, the newly appointed director of the state Division of Beaches and Shores. "At least we got our foot in the door on funding," he said.

Robert Dean, who stepped down as director of Beaches and Shores on Juiy 1, blamed intense lobbying by environmental groups for the cool reception legislators gave the beach proposals. The association, composed mostly of engineers and elected officials from coastal communities, must recognize that some people are opposed to doing anything to save the beaches, Dean said. "If we are to counter that, we must do it in an educational way. We have to do a better job of documenting art. Timet photo BOB FREITAQ Reassembly line City employees Sam Straughter (in sunglasses) and John Allice make repairs to statues in Straub Park in downtown St.

Petersburg. The statues were vandalized several months ago. Tomato farm manager is murdered Tlmtt Star! Wrlttr died of a shotgun wound. Deputies are looking fur a suspicious vehicle seen in the area, Bristow said. Detectives believe McAfee, who lived on the farm, was killed sometime between 6 p.m.

Monday and 10 a.m. Tuesday. day. The body of Todd McAfee, who ran Bonita Farms, was found on farm property near State Road 70, about seven miles east of Myakka City, said sheriff's spokesman Dave Bristow. McAfee, 27, MYAKKA CITY Manatee County sheriffs detectives are investigating the murder of the manager of a large tomato farm, a sheriff's spokesman said Wednes.