The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 101

)r- or 6-FloridaMetro Foots on ftlorfdat THE TAMPA TRIBUNE Thursday, August 17, 1995 lit targets use off pesticide i FLORIDA sion to extend the pesticide's use through November. "We hope this suit will result in a shortening of the time period in which Phosdrin is used and we also hope to stop the EPA from making secret deals with pesticide makers," Goldstein said. Phosdrin, a chemical cousin of nerve gas, has sickened more than 600 agricultur- al workers across the country in the last 12 years. In November 1989, more than 85 farmworkers were poisoned after entering a Balm cauliflower field too soon after the chemical was applied. Several say they still suffer medical problems.

Last year, the EPA and Amvac Chemical which manufactured Phosdrin, agreed to end the sale of the potent pesticide in the United States on Dec. 31, 1994. Stockpiles of it could be used until Feb. 28, after which it would be banned. But in January, the EPA agreed to allow growers to use their stockpiles until Nov.

30, mainly because of the significant amount of the product still available, said Dan Barolo, director of the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs. "We haven't seen the suit so it's difficult to comment on the particulars of it," Barolo said. Goldstein said his clients contend the EPA violated a law by not allowing a public hearing before making its January decision to extend the pesticide's use. Martin Martinez, a farmworker in Washington state, was mixing and loading Phosdrin in 1993 when he was exposed. Martinez was wearing a respirator, raincoat, rain pants, rubber glovers and boots at the time, Goldstein said.

Most of the Balm workers settled their cases earlier this year. However, four still are in litigation, said Greg Schell, an attorney with Florida Rural Legal Services in Belle Glade. Carl Grooms of Fancy Farms in Plant City said for the most part the strawberry industry stopped using Phosdrin several years ago. "There's some need for it in other crop areas but in the berry industry we have other materials we use," he said, adding he had no stockpiles of the pesticide. The two advocacy groups named in the suit along with Martinez are the United Farm Workers Union and the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides.

The chemical has made more than 600 farmworkers sick in the last 12 years. By DEBORAH VANPELT Tribune Staff Writer TAMPA A Washington state farmworker and two advocacy organizations filed suit in federal district court Tuesday in an effort to stop the use of the pesticide Phosdrin, the chemical blamed for poisoning 85 migrant farmworkers in Balm. Bruce Goldstein, an attorney with the Farmworker Justice Fund in Washington, D.C., where the suit was filed, said the legal action was an attempt to challenge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's deci Waving goodbye to Felix Refund deadline extended TALLAHASSEE The deadline to apply for the $295 vehicle impact fee refund was extended Wednesday to Oct. 2.

Circuit Judge Lawrence Kirkwood moved the deadline from Sept. 1 to give the state more time to contact more than 82,000 people who have not yet submitted refund claims. The toll-free number for the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles is 800-299-8247. The Oct. 2 deadline applies only to motorists who have not already returned a form or postcard to the highway department.

Those waiting for refunds will have to wait awhile longer. The state Supreme Court still must rule on attorney's fees in the case. Oral arguments are scheduled for Aug. 24. Cops: Man conned elderly TALLAHASSEE A West Palm Beach man has been charged with ripping off elderly insurance customers under the identity of an Illinois man who died in 1982, officials said Wednesday.

William John McKernan, 48, was arrested Monday after being stopped on a drunken-driving charge in Lan-tana. He has been licensed under the name of Raymond McGrath as a Florida insurance agent for four years, according to J. Cameron Thur-ber, an investigator with the Department of Insurance. The department suspects McKernan stole at least $6,000 in premiums from five people in the Tampa Bay area, Central Florida and Palm Beach County over the last couple of years, Thurber said. Most of the people who thought they were buying coverage from McKernan were elderly.

McKernan was being held Wednesday in Palm Beach County Jail with bail set at more than $50,000. He faces charges of misappropriation of premiums, grand theft and organized fraud, all third-degree felonies that carry a possible five-year prison sentence. Step down or quit, student leader ordered By CATHY CUMMINS Tribune Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG The student body president for USF's St. Petersburg campus freely admits he's made mistakes including charges of driving without a license and pleading no contest to grand theft and burglary.

But Robert Schweickert's admission comes two years too late for some University of South Florida administrators. Monday, they told Schweickert, a 31-year-old accounting and finance major at the campus, to choose: Either step down as student body president, or get thrown out of school. He refused to step down and as of 4:45 p.m. Monday was no longer considered a USF student, Dean 1 5 1 HP 4 i- js Lf J-, lis -f Mm-' 2 i VMM ft i. at William Heller said Wednesday.

"Student leaders should be free of any kind of controversy and serve as a role model for the rest of the student Heller said. The USF admissions form asks if the applicant has been charged with violating the law resulting in probation, community service, jail or action against hie nr hpr rirtvpr'c lippnep Cin 4 igs tft A kg li Associated Press photo Michigan tourists Angie McConchie, 10, and her Daytona Beach on Wednesday. Higher tides and sister, Amanda, 12, watch as surf generated by beach erosion were reported as Felix moved north Hurricane Felix pounds Ponce de Leon Inlet near along the East Coast. fatetrcr 'I don't want to storm victim pleads his 1993 application, Schweick- nwct ert stated he'd had his license suspended and been put on probation. "That application was in November 1993," he said.

"You don't wait two years until' someone writes a letter and then decide that they want to do something about it." Judgment was withheld on the April 1992 grand theft charge after Schweickert pleaded no contest. He was ordered to serve three years probation and pay $11,950 in restitution. Normally, applications including information about criminal charges are reviewed to determine whether the student poses a risk to the university community, USF attorney Debra King said. If the university had followed up on Schweickert's incomplete application, his conditions for admission might have included not holding any student office, she said. Heller said he knew in January that Schweickert had a record, but didn't know how extensive it was until graduate student Jim Schnur wrote him a letter dated July 24 with six pages of Pinellas County docket information attached.

Schweickert believes Schnur sent the information because he was angry Schweickert had canceled the campus's sparsely attended lecture series. Schnur, former co-chair of the series, says eliminating the series had nothing to do with his memo to administrators. The university's decision is not appealable, King said. Schweickert said he's been in contact with a lawyer. Classes begin Aug.

28. Tourist bitten by shark DAYTONA BEACH A British auto mechanic wading through shallow surf felt a sharp tug on his thigh, hobbled to shore and discovered two long rows of bleeding teeth marks. James Oatley, 20, became the ninth victim of sharks along the county's Atlantic seashore this summer. Beach authorities estimated the shark at 4 to 6 feet long, slightly larger than the juvenile sharks blamed for the other attacks. Tuesday's attack was the first this year outside the Ponce de Leon Inlet area, where bait fish, surfers and strong currents converge attracting sharks.

Oatley, vacationing with friends from Hook, England, was treated at a nearby hospital and released. The shark file has recorded 11 other attacks statewide this year, making the area the most active by far. A Tampa grandmother, 71, wins a two-hour battle with high winds and waves. By PAULO LIMA Tribune Staff Writer TAMPA As she bobbed in the turbulent waters of Old Tampa Bay on Tuesday afternoon, Francisca Ramos looked to God and her dead mother to pull her through. Her prayers were answered when firefighters and police officers plucked the 71-year-old grandmother from the water after a two-hour battle to stay afloat in a nasty thunderstorm.

Ramos talked about her experience Wednesday afternoon from her home in the Ashley Gables Apartments in north Tampa. She cheerfully gripped the two 5-foot foam cylinders known as "pool noodles" that saved her life. Ramos said she would have been content to just splash around in the complex swimming pool, but her daughter and a friend insisted on the beach. The trio decided on Ben T. Davis Beach along Courtney Campbell Parkway.

About 4:30 p.m., the women decided to go in for one final dip. water looked so nice," said Ramos' daughter, Elba Cruz. "One minute it was sunny and hot, and then the storm came from nowhere." The wind-whipped waves carried Ra mos out to deep water as Cruz watched helplessly from just a few yards away. Cruz threw Ramos another pool noodle and shouted for her mother to hang on. "I was screaming, 'Oh God, I don't want to Ramos said.

The woman wrapped one of the noodles around her chest and straddled the other one. She swallowed saltwater as the waves lapped "over her head and carried her farther into the Bay. Cruz battled a strong current back to the beach and flagged down passing motorists, who called police. She waited nervously as rescuers scoured the Bay for her mother. Several times, Ramos could see rescue boats motoring nearby, but they couldn't spot her amid the waves.

"I was praying to God and my mother for them to see me and come help me," Ramos said. About 6:30 p.m., a Tampa Fire Department boat pulled up alongside her. The rescuers wrapped her in blankets and took her back to the beach to be reunited with her daughter. After turning down a trip to the hospital, Ramos went home. Ramos has lived in Tampa about three years and been to the beach only a few times.

She isn't planning another trip anytime soon. "I told my daughter I'm going to go to the pool. I won't go to the beach." Paralyzed wrestler reaches settlement TGH pays consultant $70,000 to improve practices, cut costs Family gets huge bill ORLANDO Robert and Carrie Wolfe's house burned to the ground in May, but they got bills totaling $3,100 from the electric company for June and July. The charge for July, $2,600 for a pool pump, included a notice from Florida Power Corp. threatening to disconnect the burned-out house if the Wolfes failed to pay up.

"We lost everything but the dog and the kids," said an exasperated Carrie Wolfe. They called Florida Power a half-dozen times, informing officials of the fire, that they were now living in a rental house and that the electricity in their old house was off except for a pool pump. After being contacted by a reporter Tuesday, Florida Power spokeswoman Melanie Forbrick -said it was all a mistake. The Wolfes owe only $68.22. sional wrestling is choreographed entertainment more show than sport.

Austin, of Port St. Lucie; was introduced to wrestling in 1990. Austin He took lessons, learned the moves, and like many wres By JEFF STIDHAM Tribune Staff Writer TAMPA Sixteen months ago, wrestler Chuck Austin, partially paralyzed in a tragic accident, thanked the jury that awarded him $26.7 million the largest verdict ever in Hillsborough County. But in July, with an appellate court deliberating whether to overturn the verdict and require a new trial, Austin and his family settled his lawsuit with Titan Sports court records show. Titan Sports manages the World Wrestling Federation.

Austin's attorney, Richard Benjamin Wilkes, acknowledged a settlement has been reached but declined to reveal the amount Wilkes and his former and current law firms claim $2.8 million in fees and $132,000 in costs from the Austins. A lawyer close to the case said the parties settled for $10 million, the bulk of which will go to Austin with the remainder distributed to his wife and two sons. Joseph Lopez, lead counsel for Titan during the jury trial, said he was confident Titan would have prevailed on appeal. "There is no doubt in my mind the appellate court at a minimum would have reduced the award," Lopez said. In April 1994, the jury found Titan 90 percent negligent in the accident that left Austin with a permanent spinal injury.

The two-week trial featured stars of professional wrestling, among them past champions Bruno Sammartino and Walter "Killer" Kowajski, who testified profes- By DANIEL BERGER Tribune Staff Writer TAMPA Tampa General Hospital will pay a former national hospital executive $70,000 to advise its leaders how to improve operations and cut costs. Trustees of the public hospital voted Wednesday to accept President Fred Karl's recommendation to hire consultant Edwin French. He is former executive vice president of AMI, now part of Tenet Healthcare which owns 70 hospitals nationally, including Memorial and Town Country. French will be paid for a review Karl said would begin next month and take six weeks. Trustees earlier authorized spending up to $250,000 on the review, designed to help Karl who is not a career hospital administrator study and improve operations.

It is being done to satisfy a state legislative oversight committee led by Sen. John Grant, R-Tampa, and the insurance company for the hospital's bonds, that Karl has access to the best advice possible. French was with AMI last year when he spoke to hospital trustees in the first of a series of lectures by corporate executives organized by then-President David Bussone. The series, in which French and others described in detail how poorly equipped Tampa General was to compete under new market conditions, led some trustees to believe Bussone was preparing the hospital for corporate acquisition. French shortly thereafter opted for a lu- crative severance package, or "golden parachute," to depart AMI as it prepared for the merger, Karl said later.

Tenet this month proposed leasing its two local hospitals to Tampa General, managing them and providing unspecified management services to Tampa General as well. Trustee Fred Kanter questioned whether French is committed to public hospitals. Karl assured him that issue hadn't arisen. Karl said French was chosen because of his cost, familiarity with Tampa General he spent time studying it last year before his presentation and high-level management experience. Other firms who sought the job wanted to charge Tampa General up to $230,000 to send in a "team of youngsters" to study it, Karl said.

In other business Wednesday, the board voted to let county commissioners pick five trustees from 28 candidates without any board recommendations. In the wake of calls for a board overhaul last year, trustees spent hours discussing how to pick new members. They designated skill areas, and county staff members have ranked what skills each nominee brings to the table. The slate includes three current trustees seeking reappointment Few trustees wanted to rank publicly their own colleagues or those about to join them. Trustees were reminded, however, that they may lobby commissioners about their preferences.

tling wanna-bes was hired to be beaten by its major stars. The climax of his 1991 match at the University of South Florida Sun Dome in Tampa was supposed to be the "Rocker Dropper," a move in which a wrestler is hurled by his opponent into the air and slammed to the mat on his belly. Austin took a swan dive toward the mat. His neck snapped. He couldn't move.

Although his doctor feared Austin would be paralyzed from the neck down, he regained some feeling in his arms and legs. Austin successfully argued at trial that Titan had no safety policies or procedures and failed to train wrestlers or referees. With the settlement, the appeal dies. But the case likely will continue as Wilkes and his former law firm fight over fees. When he tried the case, Wilkes worked for Trenam, Simmons, Kempker, Scharf, Barkin, Frye and O'Neill.

But in October, he and five other Trenam lawyers started their own firm. Now Trenam, which has been rocked by departures in recent months, is claiming a portion of the fees. Wilkes new firm Gardner, Wilkes, Shaheen Candelora and the Austins say Trenam is owed only its costs. In Fort Lauderdale, a drifter who shot and killed two people after being kicked off a Broward County Transit bus was sentenced Wednesday to serve two consecutive life terms. In Miami, Akiyoshi Yamada, 52, has been charged with billing the government during a three-year period more than $120 million for Medicare services ne never provided, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Also in Miami, David Brodzky, of North Miami Beach, is accused of collecting more than $380,000 in application fees for loans that were never made, according to a federal indictment returned Wednesday. no Tribune Wire Service Report Metro.