The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 9

FLORIDA Tuesday, November 17, 1998 TAMPA, FLORIDA http:tampatrib.com A MEDIA GENERAL NEWSPAPER nfium nn a mm nTTTi TTTTW YT TS Dating ths City workers get free ride parking rep Here are the number of parking tickets St. Petersburg issued during the past three fiscal years, the number of tickets the city dismissed, and the amount of revenue lost from canceled tickets. Fiscal years run from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.

written in cities, used to void tickets issued by sheriffs deputies but stopped in 1993 on the advice of county attorneys, said Carol Heath, assistant director of court services for Circuit Court Clerk Karleen De Blaker. Most of Pinellas' 24 municipalities also halted the practice except for St Petersburg, Clearwater and St Pete Beach, Heath said. "Most cities stopped it and Revenue lost Tickets issued Tickets dismissed withdrawing a citation, and keep little documentation on dismissal requests. St Petersburg is one of the few Tampa Bay area governments that regularly voids parking tickets, at a clip of about 1,000 a year. Tickets range from $17.50 for an expired meter to $105 for parking illegally in a handicapped zone.

The fines double if not paid within 15 days. Pinellas County, which handles enforcement of parking tickets ST. PETERSBURG -The city routinely voids parking tickets when employees say they were issued while they were on "official business." By CARLOS MONCADA of The Tampa Tribune St Petersburg for years has 'routinely dismissed thousands of dollars in parking tickets owed by city employees, court records show. City council members, the transportation and parking director, even the city attorney in charge of prosecuting parking citations are among more than 120 city workers who in the past three years have had tickets cleared without paying fines or contesting them in court, records show. City officials said the dismissals were proper because the employees received them while on "official business." But officials rarely attempt to verify an employee's argument for Fiscal year 1995- 96 1996- 97 1997- 98 Total $31,220 $27,655 $40,800 $99,675 41.310 39,772 20,648 101,730 1.076 996 "950" 3,022 ANDY DORSETTrribune graphic See VOID, back page Source: Pinellas County Clerk ot Courts WOOD YOU? Mom, daughter killed in crash mum ,5 ijfclimi'tt' "if-' i 1 Officials step up probe of Ministries TAMPA A mother and daughter "MB ii' TAMPA -Greater Ministries' founder acknowledges the group is lagging behind in its financial program and remains under federal investigation.

kiss her and tell her how much they needed each other, said their pastor, Randy White. Then, mother and daughter headed to the Publix supermarket around the corner. As they were leaving the store about 2 p.m., a Dodge Intrepid hit the minivan. The van burst into flames and struck a Jeep, which also caught fire. The speeding Dodge ignited as well, authorities said.

No one else was seriously injured. Gray and white plumes of smoke rose into the afternoon sky. At the Murakamis' home, Bruce spotted the cloud and, curious, drove up the street. He recognized the burning van immediately and fainted, falling to the pavement, troopers said. Cindy and Chelsea were See CRASH, Page 7 are killed in a fiery three-car accident on West Hillsborough Avenue.

By darlene Mccormick of The Tampa Tribune 1 As the choir sang "Come to Jesus" Sunday night, Cindy Murakami's pastor threw down a challenge. "Ask the person next to you if Jesus were to come home now, would you be ready to meet him?" Yes, the 45-year-old mother of three answered. She was ready, a Less than 24 hours later, Cindy Murakami and her 11-year-old daughter, Chelsea, died in a fiery three-car accident that may have involved drag racing, authorities and witnesses said. "I know where she is," said Murakami's friend from church, Eva Tyler. 'i Murakami's husband, Bruce, had just stopped by the house to By MICHAEL FECHTER of The Tampa Tribune 0 vv mm i 1 People aren't getting the money they expect and federal investigators appear to be stepping up their probe of a Tampa ministry suspected of running a Ponzi scheme.

Gerald Payne, founder and president of Tampa-based Greater Ministries International, says the organization's financial and banking problems have caused payments to fall' behind schedule. And he sees a conspiracy. "There's a word that's been used.too loosely investigation," Payne said in an in-: lerview Friday. "We've been investigated for 10 years now. They use si i v'' i ,,,..1 that word to scare people.

I feel like that very much. It's unfortunate negative publicity travels real good and real fast." The Ministries have been the object of federal inquiry for some time. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Mosakowski recently subpoenaed all the Ministries' financial records, Payne said. Greater Ministries' "Faith Promises" financial program offers to Mr JS- ni U.H.m.s.J A 3.

Gerald Payne says the government is conspiring against his organization. ii 5 1 double a person's money in 17 months or less. It is based on biblical STEVEN STOUTfor the Tribune Cindy Murakami and her daughter Chelsea, 11, were killed in a fiery car crash at West Hillsborough Avenue just east of Elliot Road in Tampa on Monday afternoon. I If-. 7 5 I i I-- DAVE GEIGERTribune photos Workers with Great Coasters International Inc.

of Santa Cruz, work on the Gwazi at Busch Gardens. When complete in June 1999 it will be the largest dueling wooden roller coaster in the Southeast Below, the Gwazi will rise 90 feet, have 6,800 feet of track and carry 1,440 guests an hour on rides that last 2 minutes, 20 seconds. Named after a fabled lion with a tiger's head, more than a million feet of lumber is being used. New Yorker magazine bucks 'crude' new $20 references and done through a series of business deals ranging from local thrift stores to international market trades and precious metal mining, brochures say. Beyond a year-old mining operation in Liberia, Payne declined to cite specifics of other income-producing assets.

The organization has participants in all 50 states and claims to be active abroad. Tens of thousands of people are believed to have put in hundreds of millions of dollars. While it has received millions from participants, it has also encountered some expensive, and odd, fiscal problems. Among them: The collapse of a Colorado bank, costing Greater Ministries between $20 million and $30 million. A 1996 robbery at its Sulphur Springs office, with $500,000 to $3.5 million reported stolen, and the group's leaders blaming the theft on state or federal agents.

Skeptical state regulators and federal investigators believe the program is a Ponzi scheme in which early participants are paid by money coming in from newer participants. Ultimately, in such a scheme, the weight of the money and cumulative debt involved triggers a collapse. "It's a mathematical certainty that without fail, a Ponzi will collapse," said Pennsylvania Securities Commission enforcement di- See MINISTRY, Page 7 l-- til, i i i 1 J. i 'J. I 1:11 WASHINGTON Technically and aesthetically, the new $20 has changed drastically and the look isn't earning kudos.

By GERALDINE BAUM of the Lot Angeles Timet Finally, somebody has come out against money. Specifically, the new U.S. currency. With a "haute culture" sneer, the elite cultural critics of the world have vilified the cleaner, greener bills. "Everybody hates them," Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker magazine wrote recently of the new $20 bill.

"Everybody who sees the New Money says that it doesn't look like money. Everybody says that it looks like cou pons, like play money, like funny money, like fake money." The New York Times critic already had weighed in that he found the redesigned $100, $50 and $20 bills "crude, brash and ill-proportioned." These scribes did wink a bit at their own hyperbole, as if to acknowledge that American culture has become so degraded that there's nothing left to criticize except money. In a phone interview from Paris, where Gopnik earns his pay in francs, he admits that "everybody" is a "touch of excusable exaggeration," and rather apologetically explains that he intended to produce "a comic essay, as unserious as anything I've written." See BILL, back page Tfy 89 of The I Sunny and warm I is printed on yr recycled paper. iinrtc tf TOE TAMPA TRIBUNE THE TAMPA TRIBUNE 202 S. Parker St.

Tampa, FL 33606-2395 Main number (813) 259-7711 Copyright 01 998 The Tribune Co. 104th Year. No. 275 I Towering toys are talk of the town A Pinellas Park company has literally carved a niche for itself when it comes to designing figures like King Kong or Babe the talking pig. BAYLIFE-1 ABBY ANN BayLife-7 CLASSIFIED Classified-1 COMICS BayLife-7, 8 DEATHS Florida Metro-7 EDITORIALS This section-8 LOTTERY Florida Metro-2 MOVIE TIMES BayUfe-5 PUZZLES Classified, BayLife-7 STOCKS Business Finance-2 TELEVISION BayLife-4 Intervals ii T.J.

Rives Forum Respond to talk show host TJ. Rives' weekly column on the TJ. Forum bulletin board at of sun and clouds with highs in the low 80s and lows in the mid-60s. FLORIDA METRO-8 illlil ilili.