The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 33

''liir'l i i ii i I ii- i in ii i -t i' V' It I vV i 4 it I i i t. 'CMC otaqI Boar.c Water Byline: Curtis Jordan JL 0 0 On I anon urin rrig Wonder whatever happened to the high esteem most public officials used to have for an attorney general opinion? Just in recent times I can recall when payments of vast sums of public money hinged on knotty legal questions being resolved in opinions given by the state's chief prosecutor. And Reaction To Ban Varies Tribune Bureau EDITOF THE TAMPA TRIBUNE SECTION Lvy Citrm I PlKO WPAS Burglary Confession Described TAMPA, FLORIDA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1973 4 lit Jit jv-v J-- ii flu" 5 ftl A By CURTIS JORDAN Tribune Staff Writer DADE CITY Police Chief Norris Nixon yesterday gave a detailed statement on his role in the confession of Tony Dexter which led to the arrest of Raymond Webb, Dade City publisher and general manager of local station WDCF, on charges of buying, receiving and concealing stolen property. In his confession to the 6tate attorney, Dexter, a former WDCF disc jockey, admitted burglarizing Zephyr-hills radio station WPAS May 10, 1970 and stealing three pieces of radio equipment which 'he said he gave to Webb, Nixon said. DEXTER WAS fired by Webb about a yeaj- ago and returned to his home in Minnesota.

The equipment stolen from WPAS, described as three tape machines valued at $1,800, was recovered at WDCF June 20 during a search by representatives of the state attorney's office and the sheriff's department acting on Dexter's confession, the chief said. Although the incident oc e' aasw Would You Like A Lion In Your Tank? With the gasoline shortage the way it is it's bit of go-oower. This tourist's car gets playful hard to get a tiger in your tank these days. But a attention from a lioness at Lion Country Safari. lion on the bumper can give you that little extra -(LTD BROOKSVILLE Designation of the north eight miles of Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties and the south three miles of Pasco county from U.S.

19 to U.S. 41 as a water shortage area was continued yesterday by the Southwest Florida Water Management District governing board. The board also imposed an irrigation ban within the area to further stabilize levels in the ground water sully. Wendell Smith, chief of the district hydrology division, said conditions appear to have improved somewhat in the water depressed area since it was declared a shortage area a ago. However, he added, the improvement seems to be a seasonal improvement caused by recent heavy rainfall.

AQUIFER LEVELS appear to have made some recovery, as much as seven feet noted at one observation well, Smith said. Lake levels, which have shown adverse effects due to low rainfall and pumpage from nearby well fields, show some improvement. "But, when seasonally adjusted, there are no significant changes," Smith said. Smith said his department also investigated, during the past month, the effect of spray irrigation on the aquifer. He said the investigation revealed 15 per cent less' loss due to evaporation in nighttime irrigation.

MATT BRYAN, a property owner on Lake Crecent in northwest Hillsborough County, supported the district in the irrigation ban and in continuing the water shortage directive. He said water levels in Lake Crescent have fallen to where the lake can be forded at mid-lake by a small child. Without the district's intervention, Bryan said, "You can kiss Lake Crecent goodbye." A property owner on Garden Lake in the same section of the county agreed, stating Garden Lake is 10 feet below normal "and down to a pond." TOOD WOODS, a farmer representing himself and three others owning about 3,000 acres in northwest Hillsborough and Pasco Counties, said the' irrigation' ban would result in higher food prices. He said it was more costly for him to w.ter at night and that gasoline pumps added to "noise pollution." Please See Page 4, Col. i Hernando Taxpayers Get Gut On Tax Bill For 1973-74 Tribune Bureau BROOKSVILLE Hernando County taxpayers will get a decreased tax bill for 1973-1974, according to Court Clerk Harold Brown.

many public officials have breathed a sigh of relief when they had an attorney general opinion to lean on when the legality of their actions were challenged, It was always nice to have an opinion or two lying around just in case things get rough a former Pasco official once said privately. "But the name of the game is don't act until you get the opinion," he added. BUT IT'S AMAZING how quickly the opinion can lose its value if you've acted first and then discovered the opinion won't support your actions. A case in point is Pasco's ordinance specifying the duties of its county administrator. Broward County had foresight enough to seek an attorney general's opinion before adopting a similar ordinance which in the view of the state's chief prosecutor was wholly in conflict with the Florida constitution.

But Pasco apparently didn't seek an opinion in advance and enacted an ordinance which appears almost identical at least to me as a layman of limited intellectual resources to the one proposed by Broward. And I might add that my conclusion was shared by two local attorneys of no mean stat-, ure who declared the Pasco ordinance appeared to be in direct conflict with the Florida constitution as outlined by the attorney general. BUT NOW THAT there might be a question of the legality of the ordinance he helped write, County Atty. Peter Dunbar seems to place little value on the attorney general's opinion. Speaking to county commissioners Tuesday, Dunbar said: "An attorney general's opinion really has no weight according to law.

It is strictly advisory." 'Tis true. Dunbar is quite correct when he says the opinion is strictly advisory. It is strictly an opinion, is not binding and not a decision at law. Only the courts can rule on the legality of a law. And it would be interesting to see a court test made of Pasco's ordinance.

I'm told any interested citizen I can challenge the ordinance and a suit may be in the offing now more about that later. But when Dunbar says, "All hirings and firings (of county employes) are subject to the pleasure of the county commission" and that the county ad-; ministrator is only authorized to "recommend hir- ing or firing," tsk tsk, Dunbar should read his own PARAGRAPH of section 1 of this docu-ment, setting forth the powers of the administrator, says he shall have the power to "hire or engage any special personal, or professional services as authorized by said It doesn't say he should recommend the hiring or return to the board for permission, for example, to hire a professional engineer or secretary. He is clearly authorized to do so if money for the job is in the budget. As an after-the-fact courtesy to the board, the administrator has on occasion announced that he has hired such-and-such a person to fill such-and-such a job. AND I CAN remember when he has told this reporter that he was interviewing job applicants for a certain position and would inform me when he had reached "his" decision as to whom he would hire not whom he would recommend that the board hire.

Now if that isn't assuming the power to hire, I'd better take a basic reading course in simple English and stop recalling imaginery incidents and conversation with the county administrator. I cite this as only one of the many powers vested in the county administrator in the creation of a supplementary "office" for the management of county government. There are others, and if anyone, cares to check the record, get a copy of Pasco ordinance 73-15 at the courthouse (it will cost you 40 cents) and a copy of attorney general opinion 073-215 dated June 13. It's free for the asking. Simply send to the Department of Legal Affairs, Office of the Attorney General, Tallahassee 32304.

Com- pare both documents. They make interesting reading. APPARENTLY COMMISSION Chairman Walter Voorhees construed my Saturday story on the attorney general's opinion as a personal attack on the county administrator. Voorhees. in jumping to the defense of his appointee, said: "If a mistake was made, it was the county.

The county did this. George Knoblock just applied for the job." And he's absolutely right. But since Knoblock was given the job and the entire story was one that raised questions of the legality of his role, it would have indeed been difficult, if not impossible, to write without mentioning the county administrator. His role and his duties were the prime subject matter of The Tribune story which Voorhees has seen fit to describe as "very biased, subjective reporting." IF THIS BE so, I humbly apologize since I try to deal in facts and have always' prided myself on being professionally objective and accurate in my reporting. So don't be made at me, Mr.

I didn't create the situation, merely reported it. Instead, I would suggest that if the county did make a mistake, that you need the words of the attorney general who said: "It is inconceivable that a board of county commissioners may abrogate its duty and responsibility in this respect by establishing by home rule ordinance, a separate county office with certain governmental powers of the county commissioners." If this be the case, and much of your power as an elected official has been delegated to one man taxpayers might reasonably ask "Why pay county commissioners?" curred outside of his area of jurisdiction, Chief Nixon admitted he had been instrumental, in getting Dexter to here from Minneapolis and confess the theft which allegedly implicates Webb. In a' front page editorial yesterday, Pasco East recited a chain of recent political events involving tlie resignation of former City Manager William F. Pierce and the "flailing assault" upon Mayor J. Edward Starling and Commissioner Duane Anderson by a "small but economically-influential group" attempting to discredit "Starling and Anderson" in their efforts to bring economic opportunities to the people of east Pasco.

COMMISSIONER Anderson is a business partner of publisher Webb and admitted asking Pierce to resign his city post an action that was by an outpouring of during a recent meeting of the city commission. in tracing the political events, the paper referred to a series of editorials and arti- THE GENERAL fund total has been set at $2,716,484 after commission cuts of $208,519 from various department requests. Also cut during the past few weeks by commissioners has been $107,225 from the road and bridge requests for total budget cuts by commissioners from department requests of $315,744. Brown said the new road and bridge budget stands at $1,096,773, which is $196,019 above the present road and bridge fund budget of $300,856. The major increase in the road and bridge fund is money to relocate the county road department rl airport.

BROWN SAID the general operating fund Is up $887,710 from the current budget of $1,829,138. The major income increase for the general operation fund, Brown said, is federal revenue sharing money. He said the reduced mil-leage of 8.5 mills will give the county only $11,500 less than the 10 mills brought from taxpayers during the current fiscal year because of the county's increased evaluation. "The whole thing is that people will be paying less taxes, but more people will be paying taxes," Brown said. THE MAJOR department increase is Ly'kes Memorial Hospital, wheie the tentative budget reflects a giant $270,000 hike over the present budget of $123,500 to $395,006 for the coming fiscal year.

County commissioners, during one of their several budget work sessions during the pst few weeks, trimmed the original hospital request of $484,436 down to the $395,006 figure. The other major department budget increases, Brown said, are in the road department for the site relocation and in the Hernando County Sheriff's Department for new automobiles and related radio equipment, as well as new staff members. THE court clerk said commissioners have made allowances in most department budgets for a maximum 5.5 per cent salary increase. Otherwise, Brown said the overall budgets tentatively approved for adoption reflect only normal budget increases-He said the health department millage of .4 of a mill will give the department $55,659 from local money. The remainder of the health department's budget of $164,751 will be from state sources.

Brown said no additional cuts are expected in the budget, which the public will get a chance to question at the public hearing Aug. 21. Brown said yesterday county commissioners have reduced both the operating fund tax and the health department millage in a tentative budget approved for advertisement for adoption at a public hearing Aug. 21. HERNANDO RESIDENTS will pay only 8.9 mills for both operations, which Brown said is less than in any of the past several years.

The current total millage for both operations during the present fiscal year is 10.526 mills. Brown said this is a total tax reduction in the tentative budget of 1.664 mills for the two operations. The general fund tax is, down 1.5 mills, from 10 mills to 8.5 mills, Brown said, while the health department has been reduced from .564 of a mill to .4 of a mill in the proposed budget. Please See Page 4, Col. 1 School Budget i Gets Tentative Okay In Pasco Tribune Bureau lift.

Juvenile Held On Charges Of Theft Of Car Jf A. ffl I 1 I DADE CITY Tht Pasco County School Board approved a tentative budget late Tuesday night and indicated ti would recommend a 10-mill tax during a meeting that lasted until 10:30 p.mi Officials said ti will be several days before a final figure will be known since last minute changes were cranked into the budget and the final package won't be known until the dollar totals of the changes are computed. INSTEAD OF paring the budget, costs were added, including pay raises for non-instructional personnel, mostly as recommended by the administrative council that had conducted an in-depth wage KTo action was taken on the request! of the Classroom Teachers Association for $1 million to be earmarked for pay hikes over and above those included in the budget. An official, however, privately admitted later that some money, "whatever is Please See Page 4, Col. 1 MI Tribune Bureau BUSHXELL A 16-year-old male juvenile from Orlando was arrested for car theft yesterday on SR 44 by Sumter County Sheriff's Deputy Claude Barrett, Sheriff Don Page said.

Page said Barrett received a call from a store near where the boy was arrested that he appeared to be intoxicated. When Barrett stopped him in the car, the deputy decided the youth might be high on drugs. The youth was taken to the Sumter County Jail and a check was made on the car. At first, Page said, there was no report the car was stolen. A later check revealed it had been taken in Sanford.

The youth is being held for Orlando juvenile authorities, Page said. Vf Healing The Heat George Anderson of Trenton, N.J., an auto ual, with a little more comfort, and a lot more mechanic, found one way to beat the heal. He set up a fan outside his shop and it was business as us- A f-.