The Tampa Times from Tampa, Florida • 24

it THE TAMPA TIMES, Thursday, December 31, 1981 IP oil II; The Tampa Times Thursday, December 31, 1981 I Section JKOftSiaUL "B.1. t' LSI Bil Keane Marmaduke The Family Circus Brad Anderson Heathcliff f' ZtrJ. Have timer amMe these tour Jumbtes. one letter to eacfi square, to form tour ordinary worts. Jf 7 4 ROMAR County seeks opinion on civil service UNGLE YARLIF By TOM SCHERBERGER Staff Writer The Hillsborough County Commission has asked the county attorney to find out if there is any legal prohibition against a city of Tampa employee serving on the county Civil Service Board.

If there is no prohibition, adds commission Chairwoman Fran Davin, there should be one, to avoid "any intergovernmental influence" over the policies of the independ ent civil service system. The commission made the request at the end of its meeting Wednesday after Davin said she has "a serious concern about the people who are eligible or ineligible to serve" on the Civil Service Board. Davin acknowledged in an interview that her concern stems directly from what she called the "highly questionable behavior of the Civil Service Board" in the forced resignation earlier this month of Executive Secretary Ed Ruoff. FREQUENTLY KEEP The board voted to fire Ruoff Dec. 9 only moments after electing Robert De-Guenther chairman.

DeGuenther, who works for the city of Tampa's department of Housing Inspections and Community Services, suggested that the board fire Ruoff. DeGuenther has served on the board for two years. Wednesday's vote was the first public action taken by the commission in the wake of the Ruoff affair. "I think a real arm's length approach on a board such as civil service is very important," Davin said. "I'm not sure it's good policy to have a governmental employee sitting on a board that regulates governmental employees." Davin pointed out that the Civil Service Board sets personnel policy for the Aviation Authority and the Sports Authority and that Mayor Bob Martinez serves on the boards of both authorities.

But Davin stressed that she was not concerned that Martinez is at all interested in TTTT7 influencing county civil service policies. A former chairman of the Civil Service Board had asked Gov. Bob Graham to investigate the action of the board, saying he thought there may have been a violation of Florida's Sunshine Law. But Graham has said through an aide that the governor has no power to investigate such allegations. George Parker, the former civil service board chairman who made the request, says he will continue to pursue the question with Hillsborough State Attorney E.J.

Salcines. THE BOUS circled letters to MMM 1 Now arrange the form the surprise i A I A gested by the abo T) Now arrange the 1 fa Jill 113V above VWtDI, cartoon. I I I I I I (Answers tomorrow) "What part of the fish do we get fish sticks Jumbtes: ENTRY PANDA DEVOUR HITHER Answer: This will help if you're badly tired for Yesterdays "Will you stop being the life of the from?" WHEN THE CAT SWAT5 Trie CUCKOO, driving a nci hcmu it'll ee 1982." Ketcham Lee Holtey Dennis the Menace Ponytail Tumbleweeds I r. Kyon Serious problems face Pacific isles, professor claims Hi: IT'S MB 7M sT A UlMPIi? UZflRF? J- I UNAWlMAm OPJEOK. By JEFF MANGUM "1 l-MK Field Enterprises, 1981 i- i-3 Cathy Cathy Guisewite 1 I WANTED TO GET ONE I STUCK TO (UN PRINCIPLES THE IMPORTANT IS TO BE ABLE TO LOOK BACK.

LAST LIE IN BEFORE THE I WAS FAIR THOUGHTFUL, PATIENT, KlNO, TRUSTWORTHY AND HONEST. I WORKED TO WW POTENTIAL clock struck twelve. AND I BROUGHT JOW TO ALL AT THE PAST WEAR AND THOSE AROUND ME ff SAW, I HAME NO WWW? em Marianas are currently seeking to become a commonwealth, much like Puerto Rico. Talks have recently resumed after a snag over U.S. insistence that would prevent the islands from terminating their "free association" with the United States unless a military presence in the Northern Marianas is guaranteed, Arnade said.

Some islanders also are upset because Reagan replaced a popular diplomat who had been territorial administrator for more than seven years with an Oregon campaign worker who had never been to the Pacific, Arnade said. Though none of the islands is aligned with the Soviet Union, Arnade said the new prime minister of the Solomon Islands indicated his nation would seek Cuban and Soviet aid since the U.S. is reluctant to help them. "He basically meant to say, 'Don't take us for Arnade said. American indifference to the Pacific Islands parallels the lack of interest given Latin American countries until the Cuban revolution of 1959, Arnade said.

"We have a tendency to react to crises which are basically a result of our previous neglect and lack of attention," Arnade said, '1 David PolcvnTAMPA TIMES 'Do you want a good play some of my parents' albums from the fifties for you!" on to passes a bit more securely than he with the football, one of his Christmas is here. Charlie was playing Wednesday presents, near his North Street home. BC Johnny Hart Catfish Roger Bol len Gary Peterman HAPPY NttfMti 1 foer pzesseo, vvett go to I A I DAMe it wu-sses I I ill 1 If- TIMBS 5qUA AMP vVATCH THE cone cj9wm i Staff Writer A bit of Americana: Videotape players are big among South Seas islanders living far from television stations on American Samoa and Guam. But when not watching the movie "Superman" or other such fare, many islanders have more serious concerns. They fear French nuclear testing.

Others virtually worship the United States, yet are frustrated when this country insists on building military bases in exchange for island independence. For most Americans, says University of South Florida professor Charles Arnade, the chain of 1,000 islands many uninhabited in the South Pacific is a vast unknown of which they are culturally and politically ignorant. "I think we in the academic world have been responsible for this," says the social sciences professor, who recently returned from a four-month sabbatical in the South Seas and is preparing an undergraduate course to be offered for the first time at USF in January 1983. "When you talk about the place, people say, 'Oh yeah, I served in the war in Things have totally changed," Arnade says. Islands like Kiribati, the Northern Marianas, the Solomons and the Marshalls were visited by Arnade, who lectured at schools on the islands.

The canoe is still the main form of transportation between the islands, though outboard motors are seen more frequently, he said. Television is confined to the larger islands Guam and American Samoa. "Now the status symbol is having video. If you really want to show off, you get a video," Arnade says. Many of the islands came under U.S.

control after World War II, but a desire for either statehood or inde- pendence has prompted talks between islanders and the State Department. Frustration felt by residents of the Northern Marianas with the Reagan administration has surfaced in recent months over stalled talks cott- cerning self-rule, Arnade says. The 25,000 citizens in the North- MlSSlNJ'ALLTeFfjK fFY If 1 -V i a Bucs-bovnd? Perhaps, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may require that Charlie Junas hang Abandoned boats anger residents near Alafia By BAYARD STEELE Staff Writer GIBSONTON Stripped of their names, registration numbers and dignity, a small fleet of abandoned boats lies scattered across a shallow elbow of the Alafia River near this south Hillsborough community. Three of these vessels cling to the perimeter of a small, tree-covered island east of the Doyle Carlton (U.S. 41) Bridge.

The largest beached CFMff Citfefptteee. iNi Apartment 3G AlexKotzlcy Boner's Ark Addison CT. ZtScJ 1X3 WE 1 THOUGHT WE'D HAVE. A FISHERMAN X-ZX OUT THERE, ft TAKE US OUT IN A BOAT BUT I THINK 1P WHO HA6 A I TO fAKE A WrSHOM 0 IW 50 OF ft THERE'S A REAOM Nfl Charles Arnade Doonesbury G. B.

Trudeau Steve Roper Wm. Overgard Allen Saunders MM mm MAVM US aZC E3 Hi'S NOT MY PATH 1 Bayard StMleTAMPA TIMES residents are concerned The largest of the derelict vessels, an 86-tnat the discarded vessels may break up foot former naval craft, below, sank and during a severe storm and cause damage, burned in July 1980. Plf OWN HIM IHOfE I SHPSMASSO- am, mbs mm. SHZ'SimitESJW ve business mm NO, SIR. ACTUALLY, Study: Electricity A OKAY.ROMl&JEZ, tUt-'U.

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in Florida expensive ByCARLCROTHERS lamHV i ii abb rws Frank and Ernest Bob Thaves Gordon Bess Redeye craft lists sharply to one side, revealing a battered deck and cabin. A nearby rowboat is almost completely buried in the sand. Several yards north of the island, the burned-out hull of a large boat rests half submerged on the river's bottom. On a muddy bank to the south, the exposed ribs of another boat provide an eerie focal point against a background of dead mangroves killed by last winter's freeze. The once-proud vessels create a picturesque nautical atmosphere for curious passers-by, but their rotting hulls and peeling paint are viewed with contempt by many residents.

"We've heard so many promises that something would be done about this," said Rufus L. Todd a local homeowner whose shoreline property faces the Alafia. "We've been concerned about a storm or something breaking them up." Todd said the decaying boats have been in the river "probably three years or better." Listed as "derelict vessels" by the Florida Department of Natural Resources, each boat is inspected and reported by the Florida Marine Patrol. Officers first attempt to locate an abandoned boat's owner. If an owner cannot be found.

Marine Patrol administrators hire a contractor to tow the craft away usually either to be dismantled or 3unk in deep water to form an artificial reef. Finding a derelict boat's owner can be difficult, according to Capt. Don Ellingsen, supervisor of the Marine Patrol's Pinellas-Hillsborough-Manatee District. "There are several places in the state that people use for junkyards. Unfortunately, we don't have the personnel to police all of the areas." Local Marine Patrol officers are well aware of the deteriorating boats in the Alafia.

"I wouldn't really call it a junkyard," Ellingsen said. "It's sort of like a dump on the side of a road. One person leaves his boat there and pretty soon other people start doing it, too." The largest of the derelicts, an 86-foot former naval craft, originally was salvaged from a waterway in Isla.norada and transformed into a private yacht. After cruising to its current location on the south countv river, the host the highest rate in the country at 15.67 cents, the survey found. TECO charged the third highest average rate among five Florida electric companies surveyed.

Florida Power Corp. and Florida Public Unities reported higher rates at 7.66 cents and 7.56 cents per kilowatt hour, respectively. The state average Was 7.34 cents per kilowatt hour, which was higher than the average rates in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. The average for the Southern states was 6.11 cents per kilowatt hour, the survey said. The Northeast states had the highest average rate in the cbuntry at 10.18 cents, while residents of the Northwest region of the country fared the best at an average 3.61 cents per kilowatt hour.

Staff Writer Residential customers of Tampa Electric Co. pay the 62nd highest rates among the 216 largest service areas in the country, helping to make Florida's electric rates the most expensive in the South, a new survey says. The survey by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, released this month, found that TECO customers paid an average 7.4 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity during June, July and August this year based on an average residential usage of 500 kilowatt hours each month. Residents of Noxon Dam, pay the lowest utility bills at 2 cents per kilowatt hour, while New York City electric customers are charged 15 VEpY AUTHENTIC you can Blow it up IN THIRTY fHATOME LOOKS LIKE A 51(5 YOUR MOTHER'S B66N AT THERE ISM'f A CLOUD SAILING TM6R6'S fME SAUCE ASAIM IN THE SKV ONE lf A Garfield Jim Davis HE'S I ANP GREASE WITHDRAWAL. I VOOR CAT HA5 JUST AAAPE I FROM SUGAR ANP STARCH WITMPRAVVAU AAEPICAL MlSTORyJ N- 1 I ANP WITHDRAWAL Lolly Pete Hansen Rifle doesn't convince council pi 1 ALMOST TO A NEW VEAfcfc rvr cadtV Staff Report git "The best thing to do is to take a chain saw or an ax and chop it up and haul it off to a landfill.

That's really the only way I know of to get rid of an old boat. "It's becoming a bigger problem every day," A ANP LtAVlhiQ MiJGGY GOTtofflTEMO TAW, UXIV MOVIE ALONE. Herb Jerrell, the district's officer in charge of derelict vessels, has an idea of what may become of the boat. "It would make great mulch," he said. "They'd tear that thing up and drop it into a shredder.

It would come out in little chunks the size of the end of my thumb." Marine Patrol officers estimate it would cost $2,500 to remove the largest boat. A contractor should have two or three of the smaller vessels towed away at a lesser expense by late spring. Jerrell said the disposal of old boats is an increasing problem in Florida. He said many residents don't know what to do with their boats when they are beyond repair. Mike Circle walked into Tampa City Council chambers this morning carrying a Mossberg pump-action shotgun, but his intentions were entirely peaceful.

He came toting the boxed weapon because he wanted to convince the council that it was as good or better than a counterpart manufactured by Remington which the Police Department favored. Circle works for Florida Ammunition Supply Co. of Pinellas Park, which submitted the lowest bid of $158.80 each to supply 40 shotguns to the Tampa Police Department. Council, however, voted 6-1 for the second lowest of nine bidders, Brandon's Outdoor Sports Headquarters supplier of the Remington model 780. Outdoor's price per gun was $181.56..

burned on July 20, 1980. The graceful lines of its white wooden hull are now topped by a charred, crumbling deck. Debate continues over who is responsible for the craft. "Our Tallahassee office has been in litigation for more than a year concerning this boat," Ellingsen explained. "I don't know where it's going Jerrell continued.

"You can drive an old automobile into a shop and get $50 for parts. You can't do that with boats." Meanwhile, the small cluster of weathered, barnacle-covered boats remains grounded in the backwaters of the Alafia. With their prime cruising days well behind them and with little hope of rehabilitation, the future looks bleak for these forgotten, discarded vessels. rx r. f2-l I I IWI UrUXd Fwluw Syndyt, mc.

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