The Naples Daily News from Naples, Florida • Page 39

Seeking 164-8-Million Expected To Get Increase The Public Service Commission is expected to give Florida Power and Light Co. today only its second full rate increase ever, but possibly not all of the $164 8- million it is seeking. Florida Power and Light, the largest electric company with roughly 1.7 million customers, is asking for $164.8 million, including $69 million in interim relief granted by the commission in January. The Miami-based utility is arguing that has forced it to get by on 1972 revenues. Associate Consumer Counsel Don Weidner said FPL can get by on around $60 million by cutting out some $100 million in Under reasoning, the company would have to refund $9 million of the interim increase.

Weidner said advertising, contributions to charitable and civic organizations, membership to industry associations and chambers of commerce and other expenditures should not be counted as operating expenses which are passed on in higher rates. Florida Power and Light says it has been allowed to earn a return of 8.57 to 8.76 per cent since April, 1973, but has never reached that minimum profit level. as a result of spiraling inflation, those rates have never given Florida Power and Light the rates of return you granted said William Steele, FPL attorney. General Telephone, serving 800,000 customers in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, Pasco, Manatee and Charlotte counties, is seeking the largest rate increase in its history. Its package would include doubling of the 10 cent charge for pay telephones and a 20 cent charge for directory assistance after the first three calls each month.

'Primarily as a result of spiraling inflation, those rates have never given Florida Power and Light the rates of return you granted said William Steele, FPL attorney. Re gional Scene Section NAPLES DAILY NEWS Mar. 31, 1975 Marco Forestry Off icials Convinced I 1 li vr ia i a By TONY WEITZEL Wll(jTir6S ork of Arsonists MEMO FROM MRS. W. The French have a saying the more things change the more they are the same So I was over at our local cinema One and also Two finding out about the junior generation Remember when you were a kid and used to pick up old ticket stubs in front of the theater and try to get into the movie with Mister, I got a headache inside and had to go out for Well, kids still try to pull that at the Marco Cinema AND REMEMBER WHEN YOU CARRIED A STICK into the movie so you could sneak over to one of the exit doors and prop it open so all your buddies could get in free? Kids still do it.

From his post in the projection room, Gene Burgett watches the kids doing it THEN there is the PG label on pictures Parents phone the box office and say, see anything wrong with that picture. So why you let my kid in to see And when parents do that the kids often fake letters from Mama Like the kid who typed out a cute note, purportedly from his mama, and then mispelled his first name in the signature. AND THEN THERE ARE THE KIDS who pay their way into the good side, where the kiddie movies are, and then sneak through the exit system to the X-rated side One nice thing about Marco kids, Gene says, got good manners, X-rated or not. A GORGEOUSLY MARKED ALLIGATOR over near the 18th hole on our favorite golf course Comes out late in the afternoon to catch the sun So far nobody is feeding the gator, or trying to tame him, so he may have a better life than our poor Albert Remember the 11-foot gator that had to be hunted down on the fifth hole and hauled off to the swamps or somewhere? BILL MURRAY SAYS DOTTIE is going to do what she always does Tuesday work in spite of the fact their 10th wedding anniversary. DR.

BRYAN NELSON speaks to the Marco Island Club Wednesday at their meeting on Remuda Ranch tell them about the only program that seems to work for dope addicts trying to kick the habit heard Dr. Nelson he tells it like it is pulls no punches and he really knows what the drug problem is all about Now, he confides, a new hazard kids who have been on drugs getting into alcohol and drugs at the same time They use drugs and drink cheap wine like pop and that really complicates the drug scene. NOTICE TO ASTRONAUTS or somebody Kite Day at Tommie Barfield School is April 11 and some of the creations the kids are coming up with look as if they might make it to the moon WARNING from the Barfield bulletin Some of the youngsters are into a gig that could have serious consequences A kid takes 10 deep breaths, then holds his breath while another kid squeezes him around the diaphragm usually causing a near-faint. The kids have been warned this is dangerous. SATURDAY WAS MARTI birthday and Pete was planning a big surprise frolic for her So he had to be supee accommodating She even got him to clean out the garage Saturday morning Then, while she was off at the beauty parlor a raft of friends invaded the house and when Marti got home there was no place for her to park but it was a great party.

NATE AND JANE PAULUS entertained daughter, Lynn and her husband, Jerry Cox, and Dana, 3, and Chris, 7 They came down from Minneapolis on the bus (a jaunt that takes 47 hours) Jerry, who teaches at Minnetonka High School, loves Marco and it was a great visit They even mind the bus because Chris celebrated his birthday during the ride But the moment they arrived, Grandma Jane got busy making him a special Marco birthdav cake SHE POPPED THE CAKE into the oven and then the whole family headed for the beach And the kids were in the water, living it up, when Grandma Jane suddenly remembered the cake and realized it had been in the oven a solid three hours The cake was intact, but dryer than the Sahara, so the lids crumbled it and put the crumbles on their ice cream and it was great. They even enjoyed sleeping in T-shirts because the bus people lust their suitcases And when they left to go back to Minneapolis, where their house had a foot of snow on the roof, Grandma Jane made them enough cupcakes to last all the way home. HAD A WONDERFUL CONVERSATION with portrait artist Sybil Goldsmith visiting the Tom Dosens Since her visit to Marco last year (when she did portrait) Sybil has done 80 oil paintings on commission 31 of them portraits She went to London to do a portrait of Alex Colp, boss of the Paris Herald and she did the Murray family (Chrysler International) with the three Murray lads sitting in a tree BUT ONE COMMISSION she probably won get a chance to fill When Richard Nixon was vice president, Sybil painted portraits of Tricia and Julie and just before Watergate, she signed a contract to do the girls with their mother, Pat Nixon but now, who knows Anyway, her protraits of Tricia and Julie now hang in the house at San Clemente. ON THE PERSONAL SIDE, Sybil paints son, Peter, an architect, and son Graham, a business man, and their spouses and the grandchildren every four years as a sort of record of the family One grandson, Graham II, paints with her in her studio, and he tells visitors, grandma started painting at 6. I started at By STEVE ALLDREDGE County Reporter The wildfires that burned almost 2,000 acres of cypress woods and grasslands in the county last week were definitely the work of arsonists, state Divison of Forestry officials said this morning.

the area where the fire originated and from definite evidence we picked up at the scene, we know the fires were definitely said Edward Jones, investigator for the Division of Forestry. Firemen worked for three days to contain three major wildfires that burned about 2,000 acres in Collier County. One fire northeast of Copeland burned 210 acres on Wednesday and burned another 250 acres on Thursday before it was brought under control. fire five miles northeast of Golden Gate burned 450 acres and burned another 450 acres before it was contained late Thursday night. A THIRD major fire near the three-mile mark on Alligator Alley was finally controlled late Thursday after it had burned about 300 acres of woods and grassland kill everything that gets in their Jones said.

They destroy the soil because the soil deteriorates where a fire has been burning. They damage property, kill trees that could be used for timber and kill Jones is currently investigating nine cases of arson in Collier, Lee and Hendry counties. of the people are just doing it for he said. people are mad at their neighbors; some people believe that this is that time of year to burn the field Some people are mentally ill they get their kicks out of burning IN ADDITION to burning the woodlands and killing wildlife, last fires blew smoke and ash over populated areas from Golden Gate to Naples. Fifteen mile-an-hour winds blew sparks over plowed fire lanes to start new fires.

Forestry tractors repeatedly cut wider and wider rings around the fires until thev were all contained late Thursday night. fire along the Tamiami Trail caused a few anxious moments when firemen discovered five metal containers filled with dynamite and detonators in the path of the flames. Forestry tractors with plows lumbered to the construction site where the dynamite was located and plowed a wide path around the canmsters to halt the flames Firemen said if the canmsters had been exploded, they could have endangered thenien, Jones is now investigating the fires, but he said it is often difficult to find witnesses in cases of wildfires NEED input from the he said. they contact us, we will not reveal their names to anyone, but we need help catching these people fires endanger lives and homes. We had some mobile homes almost burned down last week, and last year we almost had to evacuate East Naples because of the wildfires.

We need to stop these people before someone gets Everg lades Is Unique Wilderness Photo by Alldredge Everglades boat tours give visitors glimpse of unique mangrove wilderness. Ways Sought To Open More Coastal Areas A conference on Recreation in the Coastal Zone was held in St. Petersburg last week to find ways to open more of the coastal areas to the public. Funding was one of the main problems considered by the group that also discussed taxing non-residents for use of the beaches as one solution to the money problem. State and federal officials from as far away as California and Michigan attended the conference, which was sponsored by the Department of the Interior.

The conference pointed out that Americans spend more money for recreation than for national defense, but only 9 per cent of the beaches are open to the public. Speakers said that 85 per cent of this citizens live in coastal states and as the four- day work week comes closer to reality, water recreation activities will increase and the problems of recreation in a coastal area also will increase. THE DIRECTOR of the Florida Parks and Recration Department, Ney Landrum, said that the purchase of coastal lands was the key to opening up more areas to residents and visitors. He said the $240- mill ion Lands for You program approved by the voters in 1972 was devoted to obtaining more coastal lands and some $56-million has been 'spent in the last 10 years to acquire beach land for the public. Landrum said the state prefers to gain full access to beaches rather than simply purchasing the development rights to beach property.

The regional vice president of the Nature Conservancy, Richard Jones, cautioned states to first inventory the most unique coastal areas to be preserved. conservation can be as destructive as unplanned Jones said. HE SUGGESTED a Heritage Trust Program be set up to identify and list the most unique coastal areas to be preserved first. The representative from the Lake Michigan Federation, Lee Botts, said power plants should be banned from coastal areas to allow more land for recreational activity. She said people will be willing to pay for the right to use the coastal areas.

Reporesentatives from California related their experiences with the experiments of some California cities taxing non-residents who use state beaches. 1RV MORTENSON describes food chain. By STEVE ALLDREDGE County Reporter EVERGLADES CITY During the last two months alone over 30,000 persons have 1 visited the Everglades National Western Water Gateway to see the subtle beauty of unique mangrove wilderness. Many tour the Ten Thousand Islands in their own power boats or by canoe, others drive from all over the country to Everglades City to ride the tour boats through the islands. Park officials said visitors are fascinated by the rare beauty of the Gulf coast section of the park.

THERE ARE no big sweeping vistas like Yosemite or the Grand Tetons and superficially one mangrove island looks like another, but you have to look for smaller, more intricate things to find beauty in the said Irv Mortenson, district park ranger. have to look for beauty there in a different way it is still there, but it is a subtle sort of he said drive into Everglades City as you do Yosemite. Nature hit you over the head here. You have to go out and experience the Everglades National Park on a personal level to really appreciate The concessionaire, Sammy Hamilton, takes visitors on a boat tour of the unique mangrove islands The tour begins on the edge of Chokoloskee Bay, one of the largest of the back bays of the Ten Thousand Island system that extends to Whitewater Bay near Cape Sable These bays and islands are the result of a rising sea level that slowly is drowning the seaward edge of Everglades National Park As the sea level rises, the tidal currents rip and tear at the land and the maze of creeks and waterways that flow into the Gulf of Mexico. THE ECOLOGY of the area revolves around the mangrove trees, which hold the sand together to form the islands and provide shelter and food for wildlife.

As they fall into the water, the mangrove leaves are broken down by crabs, shrimp and snails. These marine creatures are then fed upon by mangrove snapper and other fish The smaller fish are then fed on by larger game fish; fish such as redfish, tarpon and snook. The presence of these fish makes the area a dream. Other wildlife also depends on this marine food chain. Great flocks of birds feed in the shallows along the boat route.

In the spring and summer alligators, and occasionally the rare American crocodile, can be seen sunning themselves along the banks of the narrow creeks. Raccoons, bobcats, deer, Florida water rats, the mangrove cuckoo, the Cape Sable sparrow and osprey are often sighted as the boat makes its large circle of the mangrove wilderness and returns to Chokoloskee Bay PARK RANGERS are now engaged in a fight to prevent the Australian pine from destroying the mangrove wilderness. Hurricane winds spread the seeds of the exotic pine throughout the park. The pines grow in areas where crocodiles and sea turtles usually nest, and their growth shuts out the natural plant life on which these and other animals depend for food and shelter Park rangers are gradually killing all of these pines in the park, but since the pine now forms extensive forests along the Gulf Coast, each new hurricane spreads more seeds and makes their job more difficult. is important for people to realize they divorce themselves from the natural Mortenson said we all depend on it And although they can only see a part of the mangrove wilderness on the boat tours, it is better for them to experience it this way, than not to experience the Everglades at Crawfish Season TALLAHASSEE All persons engaged in the taking of crawfish from Florida waters were warned today by Harmon Shields, executive director of the Department of Natural Resources, that the season will close at midnight, March 31, and remain closed until midnight.

July 31. I.