The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 51

PI i ML Countywide coverage THE TAMPA TRIBUNE Wednesday, April 7, 1993 tudy backs water sports complex MARY TOOTHMAN By REX HENDERSON Tribune Staff Writer BARTOW A proposal to build a Polk County mecca for power boat racing and water skiing competition is "doable," a county task force concluded Tuesday. A acre water sports complex could be built for somewhere between $12 million and $20 million, Lakeland urban planner Augie Fragala concluded. Planners also identified three potential sites for the complex. The county could generate about $12.3 million for construction of the complex by combining bonds backed by operating revenue from the water sports complex, tourism taxes generated by the project and a state grant. "Do we think this is doable? You bet," said Gene Engle, a Lakeland Realtor who headed a Polk County Commission-created task force that guided the feasibility study.

The complex would generate about 350 new jobs in Polk County, and bring in enough visitors to fill a 375-room hotel, Fragala said. The project is far from under way, despite Engle's conclusion and the $65,000 feasibility study done by Powell, Fragala Associates, a Lakeland urban planning firm. The study was authorized by the county commission. The commission on Tuesday accepted the report, and instructed Engle's task force to produce a more detailed proposal to finance and build the complex. Engle said the more detailed report could be complete in six months.

The task force has had contact with private investors interested in a partnership in the venture, he said. He declined to identify the potential partners. Under the most ambitious of the proposals for the water sports complex, the county would create a Water Sports Complex Authority to buy at least 1,000 acres, where it would build a 400-acre power boat racing track, a network of water ski competition lakes and a rowing, canoeing and kayaking lake. The competition areas would be complemented by viewing stands, parking for 20,000, an administration building, concessions and perhaps a small water fun park. The complex would be built in stages, with the power boat racing track first.

It is the most expensive element in the park, but the biggest revenue generator, too, Fragala said. At completion in about eight years, the water sports park would generate about $1.1 million a year above operating expenses to pay off construction loans. The feasibility study narrowed the sites to three contenders. Engle said the task force would consider others in developing the final proposal. See STUDY, Page 3 Investigators still looking for missing woman By CHRIS VOGEL Tribune Staff Writer LAKELAND Polk County investigators are searching in other states for a 27-year-old woman who disappeared nearly a year ago after a male acquaintance was found shot to death.

Melissa Jo Sermons was last seen in Lakeland May 4, the same day authorities found 7 S. Staying sober on prom night a cool move BARTOW In the mid-70s, it was cool to get good and drunk on prom night. In fact, even the kids who ordinarily were relatively well-behaved usually sipped on alcoholic beverages on prom night. It was tradition. It was expected.

It was stupid. Drunken driving is the leading cause of teen-age deaths in the United States. About 3,000 teens died in 1991 in alcohol-related car crashes. Fortunately, things seem to have changed since the mid-70s. Kids still drink on prom night, no doubt.

But a strong effort is being made to teach them that it's a really lousy idea. And chances are pretty good the message will stick at least for some of these teen-agers. A trend is catching on in the form of a program called Prom Promise, which began in 1990. Sponsored by Nationwide Insurance, the program is being offered this year in 18 states and the District of Columbia. With this program, students are encouraged to sign a pledge promising not to drink or use drugs on prom night.

Those who sign on the line get a prize and a special card that entitles them to merchandise discounts and makes them eligible for drawings for more prizes. Getting home safe the body of Elwin Lawrence Cos-tine 31, of 12636 Moore Road, Lakeland. Costine and Sermons were last seen together on May 3 at the home of a friend. Major Grady Judd of the Polk County Sheriffs Office said authorities have received telephone calls that Sermons has been seen alive. He said he doesn't know if the reports are accurate.

''V0 Sermons "We received one phone call The biggest prize of all, of course, will be their safe returns home on the big night. Some of us who attended high school in the mid-1970s may have vague memories of lectures about the dangers of drinking. But they are vague. If they had been hardhitting lectures like kids are getting this year, surely they would remain in the old memory banks. And that's the point, isn't it? Leaving a strong impression kids won't forget? The A.i from a man who swore he saw Melissa Jo in North Florida, but said once he got a good look at the girl, he realized it wasn't Melissa Jo Sermons," Judd said.

"How many are actual sightings and how many are those who say they look like Melissa Jo, there's no way to tell." The Sheriff's Office have been conducting investigations in states where people have reported seeing Sermons including Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Kansas for the last six months, Judd said. Investigators made trips to some of these states in March. Sermons may be driving a cattle hauler in the Kansas City, Oklahoma or Texas area, according to a missingendangered persons notice issued by the Sheriff's Office. She was possibly seen at a truck stop in Wichita Falls, Texas. Judd said the notice has been distributed to truck stops and other places, including rodeos, where Sermons might frequent.

A $2,500 reward will be paid to any person who can furnish authorities with information leading to her location. "She is either a prime suspect in the Larry Costine homicide or a victim," Judd said. "If she is alive, we just want to talk to her." The Sheriff's Office has also submitted a letter concerning Sermons' disappearance to "Unsolved Mysteries," a TV show. Sermons is described as a white female, 5 feet 10 inches tall and 175 pounds. She was last seen wearing a black shirt, turquoise pants, gray boots and a horseshoe ring with diamonds.

Anyone with information on the location of Sermons should contact the Polk County Sheriff's Office at 1-800-534-0344. GREG FIGHTTribune photo Rescue drill National Guard firefighter Craig Downey pulls an abled rescue personnel to practice life-saving "injured" pilot from a plane's fuselage during a techniques in preparation for the Experimental mock disaster drill Tuesday at the Lakeland Lin- Aircraft Association's annual Sun Fun Fly-In der Regional Airport. The practice session en- April 18-24. Courthouse security may be tightened I i i Jli I I lectures of the old days must not have been strong enough, because they were easily forgotten and also widely ignored. From the sounds of it, the programs being offered in schools today are the types kids will likely be unable to erase from memory in an effort to be cool.

Let's hope so, at any rate. In Polk County, high schools have offered special programs and events designed to heighten students' awareness of the dangers of mixing prom night with drinking or using drugs. Guest speakers will include parents of kids who died in accidents that were alcohol-related. The talks might be awfully sad, but they should have a sobering affect on kids. And whatever it takes to make them listen would be worthwhile.

Grim reminder Not all the events are downers. Some are planned to be upbeat and cheerful, yet still teach kids the facts about the dangers involved with driving under risky circumstances. Other planned events are not upbeat at all, but they sound like a sure way to knock sense into the minds of teen-agers who may think they are immortal. Bartow High School is even having a Grim Reaper Day, which should bring home reality pretty clearly. In stunts designed to illustrate the fact that someone in America dies every 26 minutes because of drunken driving, a costumed Grim Reaper will make appearances in classrooms every 26 minutes from 7:30 a.m.

until 1:30 p.m. As a recording of a crash plays on the school intercom, the Grim Reaper will silently touch selected volunteers with his scythe. The student will then leave the classroom, and return with a white face and dressed in black. The students touched by the messenger of death will wear signs that say "Don't talk to me. I'm only a memory." Scare 'em, please Too gruesome? Too much? It depends on your perspective.

If it seems a little rough to do this in the pre-prom days, you can spend a few minutes talking to a parent whose child died because of drunk driving. After hearing a few tales of crushed bones, lost dreams and grief, the Grim Reaper sounds like a welcome addition to high school classrooms. Sad? Yes. Grim? Sure. Needed? By all means.

Go ahead and scare the pants off those kids, people. Because getting drunk on prom night isn't cool at all. It's deadly, and that special night should be a banning for students not an GARY RINGSTribune photo Designing woman Sales Associate Cathy Gentile arranges items on display in one of the Badcock Home Furnishings Centers in Tampa. Story, mer husband, Dixon said. The 10-floor courthouse has been empty while some $24 million in repairs are being done to correct leaks and a faulty air-conditioning system which led to mold growth and a high rate of employee health problems.

The current security in the courthouse consists of an X-ray machine, through which items such as purses and briefcases are passed, and a metal detector, in the lobby and a metal detector at the entrance to the juvenile division on the west side of the building. Under the committee's recommendation, there would be three security entrances to the courthouse at doors on the north and west sides of the building, which are adjacent to parking areas, and at the juvenile entrance. Doors on the east and south sides of the building would be locked. Oliver said two new X-ray machines and one new metal detector would be needed at a cost of about $86,000. About $80,000 would be needed in the sheriff's budget for four additional people to staff the security entrances, he said.

By BILL HEERY Tribune Staff Writer BARTOW Polk County Clerk of the Court E.D. "Bud" Dixon wants better security when the county courthouse reopens in early 1994. The Committee on Justice Activities in the Courthouse has recommended security measures that would cost about $166,000 for the purchase of equipment and the first-year of staffing, courthouse coordinator Randy Oliver told county commissioners Tuesday. The commission took no action on the request. At a meeting last month of the courthouse committee, Dixon requested that the entire courthouse be placed under security.

"I said I am concerned about violence that is occurring in the court systems throughout the United States, especially in the family division child support and domestic violence," Dixon said Tuesday. A Bartow woman, who was shot to death by her ex-husband when she drove into her driveway in February, had just left the family division of the courthouse, was filing for an injunction fa? protection against her for Bartow OKs raising sewer rates $5 Commercial rates, which vary depending on the amount of water used, will increase proportionally. City Manager Jim O'Connor said the increase will raise about $400,000 a year toward paying off a bond issue for the new treatment plant. The commission Monday night also approved a resolution stating its intent to sell up to $9 million in bonds to pay for the plant. Repayment of the bonds is expected to cost about $700,000 a year, and Mayor aeries Hooks warned See SEWER, Page By BILL HEERY Tribune Staff Writer BARTOW Bartow residents will pay $5 more a month for sewer service to help pay for a new sewage-treatment plant that will cost about $8 million.

The city commission Monday night approved the monthly increase, from $13.25 to $18.25, for residences inside the city. Residential sewer customers outside the city, who pay more for city sewer service, will pay a. $7.50 monthly Increase, from $19.8 to $27.38..