The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 237

Citrus Lake Serving Sumter and Lake Sumter THE TAMPA TRIBUNE Friday, November 27, 1992 Report: Economy a factor at refuge The RiverWalker Neil Johnson By DEAN SOLOV Tribune Staff Writer 1 i CRYSTAL RIVER In contrast to the perceptions of some local businessmen, reports indicate the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has made economic impact and public sentiment a key part of its equation in developing restrictions at the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge. 1 In an inter-agency report last year, refuge Manager Cameron Shaw cited those factors in backing away from his predecessor's suggestion that the popular main spring at Kings Bay refuge property be closed half of each year to protect the endangered manatees that enjoy Its warm waters during colder months. "Closure of this area would prove to be extremely difficult," he wrote in the Sept. 20, 1991, report.

"Area businesses rely heavily on the use of the spring for recreation and tourism. Closure would have a severe economic impact on tourism-based business including dive shops, hotels and restaurants. Service-initiated closure action would result in a severe public relations backlash." However, Shaw wrote that seasonal closure is among possibilities to be considered in the future. The document is a status report on what steps have been taken to protect manatees from activities deemed harmful. In a 1990 evaluation, Shaw's predecessor, Pat Hagan, listed such activities as boating, swimming and diving as harmful.

Like Shaw, Hagan was well aware where public opinion fell in the area of restrictions. In explaining why the activities were allowed to continue, Hagan noted that regulating waterborne activities is a "highly political and sensitive issue." Some businessmen have complained that, in creating restrictions, wildlife officials have demonstrated an inordinate degree of concern for manatees, at a cost to people. But a coalition of environmentalists has come to the opposite conclusion, claiming that on many of the nation's refuges Crystal River included activities harmful to wildlife are tolerated because of political and public pressure. Last month, the groups filed a lawsuit against the wildlife service; their action focuses on the Crystal River refuge and nine others. In addition to showing the prominent role public opinion plays, the federal reports help demonstrate the difference in Shaw and Hagan's perspectives.

See REPORT, Page 5 ill; fn 1 3 I Police still sift clues in slaying Fresh leads in the 1971 murder poured in after NBC-TV's "Unsolved Mysteries" aired a segment about the case Oct. 14. v. 'lv VA rr 1 AS A i ill ''fV I rsr: i 1 Lt v4 'If i-- jf vSW! 1 By STEVE ORLANDO Tribune Staff Writer BUSHNELL More than six weeks have passed since a story about a 1971 Sumter County slaying was aired on national television. Authorities considered it a last-ditch effort to identify the victim, known as Little Miss Panasoffkee, and possibly find her killer.

Scores of tips flowed in after the Oct. 14 segment was broadcast on NBC-TV's "Unsolved Mysteries," giving investigators a new infusion of hope. That hope hasn't turned completely stale, but it's not quite as fresh as it was in the beginning as investigators continue sorting through a plethora of information. "We were hoping to get an identification right off the bat," said Sumter County sheriffs Capt. Bill Farmer.

"I'd say out of the 200 calls we've gotten, there's 50 that need to be pursued in one way or another." he said. "There are some very promising leads." The tips still being followed include: A woman from Orlando said her mother disappeared near Rus-kin in late 1970. Farmer said the woman is trying to get her mother's dental records from her father in Puerto Rico. A woman in Pinellas Park said her sister was last seen in late 1970 or early 1971. The woman will send Farmer photographs of her sister.

A prison inmate in Kentucky said he and a friend visited a. Jane Doe grave in north Central Florida. The inmate said the friend told him the woman buried there was his girlfriend and that he killed her "because she was lame and getting in the way," Farmer said, adding that he plans to meet the prisoner in person. Little Miss Panasoffkee had an unusual type of surgery performed on her right ankle and probably suffered repeated ankle sprains, autopsy results show. Another man in Kentucky said when he was in prison he overheard an inmate say he strangled a woman in Florida with a belt.

Little Miss Panasoffkee's body was found with a man's leather belt looped around her neck. The victim got her nickname from the place where her badly decomposed body was found. It was floating beneath the Interstate 75 bridge that crosses the lake's southern end. See POLICE, Page 3 A new episode of government game show ALEC: And welcome back to "Local Government Jeopardy." This is your host, Alec Trivet. And it feels great to be back here.

You may not know, but I spent the last year in Citrus County Jail. I was sentenced to a year on contempt of court charges for saying what they call a steer before it becomes a steer on this program. As you know. Citrus County Judge Gary Graham objects strongly to that word. Now, let's get right to our game.

Agatha, you control the board. AGATHA: I'll take Jailhouse Blues for $400. Alec. ALEC: Three members of this board face criminal charges that they violated state open meeting laws and the other two face non-criminal charges. AGATHA: Who is the Hernando County School Board? ALEC: Correct.

A grand jury indicted all five members of the former school board. Three of them are still in office. AGATHA: How about Bun Bans for $600. ALEC: Hot dog vendors in T-back bathing suits here prompted this commission to outlaw thong bathing suits in public. AGATHA: Who is the Pasco County Commission? ALEC: Sorry, that's incorrect.

The Pasco commission is only considering such a law. Joe, you were next with the buzzer. JOE: Who is the Sumter County Commission? ALEC: Correct. Baring your behind is now illegal in Sumter County. Commercial ALEC: Welcome back again.

Joe, it's your choice. JOE: I'll take Candid Camera for ALEC: This school board spent $16,000 to put cameras on school buses to catch naughty kids misbehaving. JOE: What is the Pasco County School Board? ALEC: That's correct. JOE: I'll take Blind Bureaucracy for $800, Alec. ALEC: A Floral City man wound up spending hundreds of dollars trying to satisfy this agency because he built a fence without a permit.

Time expires without an answer, ALEC: The correct response would have been what is the Citrus County Code Enforcement office. Because the man didn't have a fence permit, he had to tear down a fence he built at his home, get two surveys and apply for a variance. Eventually, the county returned his variance fee but it took an order from the county commission to do it. Joe, you still control the board. JOE: Dawn's Early Light for $200.

ALEC: It's the daily double. JOE: I'll wager $600. ALEC: For $600. It took more than 13 hours before these were complete, JOE: I dunno. Uh.

What is a Citrus re-zoning hearing? ALEC: Sorry. What are Hernando County's results in the general election? The final tally for the election was not complete until after 8 a.m. the next day, probably a new record for tardy tallies in Hernando. Joe, you still control the board. JOE: I'll take Still Gouging the Public for $400, please.

ALEC: These still cost $1 each when the law says they can cost as little as IS cents a piece. ALEC: Henry, you were first. HENRY: What are copies of court records in Hernando County? ALEC: That's correct. Another commercial ALEC: Welcome back. It's time now for Final Jeopardy.

The category for today is Fields of Dreams. This baseball team agreed to move to Pasco County but two days later backed out of the deal because no one had authority to make the agreement. That annoying theme music plays. AGATHA: Who are the New York Yankees? ALEC: That's correct and you're the winner, little lady. VOICE FROM OFF CAMERA: Hold it right there.

That's an insulting term degrading to women and you owe her an apology. ALEC: But Judge Graham, she is little. She's only 4-foot, 9 inches tall. It doesn't matter. It's insulting and shows contempt for the decorum of this game show.

Unless you apologize to this woman and to the court, I'll hold you in contempt. ALEC: Apologize to the court? You're not in court. GRAHAM: That does it. I'm holding you in contempt of court for a year or until you offer a sincere apology. ALEC: Here we go again.

I Tribune photograph by BOBBY PEACOCK of her pottery works. She is the show's featured artist this year. Barbara Hille, one of the founders of the Presentations Under the Pines arts and crafts show, stands among some Artist builds a career with clay "It fires between 1,750 and 1,900 Fahrenheit," she said. She spends six to eight hours daily creating a varied line of pottery. "I try to keep quite a variety on the shelf because you get people of all tastes," she said.

Regular customers stop to buy decorations for the home and gifts, she said. "I work mainly in earth colors," and her featured exhibit on Saturday will highlight vessels, including large vases. "The silly thing is, I want to make things bigger and bigger and it gets harder and harder," she said. Hille's pottery will be displayed in the Convention Center at the Plantation. Also on display in the Convention Center will be the works of local high school students.

Visitors to the show are asked to cast a ballot in the annual "People's Choice" competition. The winning student gets $100. Festival hours are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Plantation is on Fort Island Trail (County Road 44), just west of U.S.

Highway 19. By GEORGE WILKENS Tribune Staff Writer CRYSTAL RIVER The first arts and crafts show Barbara Hille organized at the Plantation Golf Resort 14 years ago attracted a few dozen participants and about 500 spectators. The 15th annual Presentations Under the Pines Invitational Arts Crafts Show on Saturday will feature the works of more than 150 artists from around the country and is expected to draw a crowd of more than 10.000. For the irst time, the event will include the pottery of Hille, this year's featured art- "The first year, we had 35 artists, mainly from this area, maybe 10 from out of county." said, Hille, an artist, potter and owneroperator of; Old House Gallery north of Crystal River? "About 500 people came, which really amazed us" for an initial effort, she said. Participants and spectators agreed, "It's a great spot to have a show," under the pine trees on the spacious grounds of the Plantation Golf Resort, she said.

The number of participants and spectators grew during the following decade, and estimates are that the one-day show now attracts up to 15,000 people. Hille was already a painter when she came to Citrus County from Texas 17 years ago with her husband, Carl, now manager of the Plantation Golf Resort. Without giving up her original love, a decade ago she began courting another art: pottery. A friend giving up being a potter to devote time to making silver jewelry wanted to sell Hille her kiln. "I'll buy it if you show me how to use it," Hille told the friend.

Over a lunch of fried chicken, the lessons began. Hille has since moved on from that first kiln, which was held together by string. Today, she uses a variety of methods, including pit firing and a propane-powered kiln fashioned from a 55-galIon drum lined with fiber. Motion could affect robbers' sentences Z-4r-t. i count each of attempted armed kidnapping and attempted robbery with a weapon.

A motion by Wray's lawyer, Fred Ohlin-ger of Inverness, said Circuit Judge John Thurman should have thrown out the kidnapping charges against his client. If they are dismissed and he Is sentenced on the remaining robbery and assault charges, he faces a substantially reduced sentence, Ohlinger said. "The difference here is life in prison as opposed to 3'j years," based on state sentencing guidelines, the lawyer said. Ohlinger said recent case law bolsters his argument. "I am very confident," Ohlinger said.

"The only question is whether Judge Thurman or an appeals court will grant it." Heard was convicted of two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, two counts of aggravated assault with a See JUDGE, Page 3 A By KEITH MORELLI Tribune Staff Writer INVERNESS A circuit judge is scheduled Monday to decide whether to sentence two armed robbers to life in prison or grant their motions to throw out kidnapping convictions. Eric D. Heard and Prince Narvel Wray, both 25 and from Orlando, were found guilty of 18 charges stemming from the attempted robbery of the Winn-Dixie grocery store in Beverly Hills one year ago this week. Defense attorneys argue that most of the convictions are Illegal. They say the multiple kidnapping convictions should not have been handed down because the facts on which those charges are based are included in the robbery charge.

Wray was convicted of five counts of armed kidnapping, five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one Tribune photograph by BOBBY PEACOCK Seeing her around Tiffany Stotts, 4, gets a look at where she's spinning recently at Hernando Beach. Tiffany and her mother were enjoying the playground..