The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 542

2BR The Miami Herald Thursday Jan 5 1984 The jury convicted him of lesser charge but he still faces jail Preacher guilty i4 in shotgun blast back from about 15 yards Hamilton said Across the street Mary Ann Kennedy was accidentally hit in the thigh with two pellets she testified Kelly said he fired in self-defense as Hamilton reached for a pocket in an apparent grab for a weapon In 1971 Kelly was convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor obstructing justice by disguise and drunkenness He was sentenced to 30 days in jail Then in 1975 he was sentenced to 90 days after a conviction for assault and battery Kelly carried a Bible throughout his two-day trial and consulted it often Psalm 70 he said was his inspiration In that passage David prays that his enemies be turned backward and put into confusion battery and improper discharge of a firearm in public Pole said he was puzzled by the verdicts because Johnnie Hamilton of Fort Lauderdale still bears scars from the dozens of BB-shots that hit his back and neck think he should get 20 Hamilton said after the verdicts were announced Kelly 42 of 2880 NW 25th St near Fort Lauderdale said he was pleased with the verdict on lesser charges because charge was exaggerated from the Seven Kelly supporters who said they were church members congratulated him after the verdict was announced our pastor and going to follow where he leads" said Jolly Frederic of Boynton Beach Broward Circuit Judge Leonard Fleet said he would sentence Kelly next month By BRIAN BLANCHARD Herald Staff Writer The Bible-toting pastor of a Boynton Beach church was found guilty Wednesday in Broward Circuit Court of firing a shotgun at a business associate leveling two blasts that hit both the man and a bystander across the street But jurors who argued sometimes loudly for four hours about what happened July 15 on the front lawn of the Rev Thadore Kelly's Broward home finally settled on softened verdicts Prosecutor Christopher Pole asked jurors to convict Kelly of two counts of aggravated battery with a firearm convictions that would have carried a mandatory sentence of at least three years Instead Kelly was found guilty of two lesser offenses attempted aggravated The pastor faces a maximum sentence of six years in prison know if I'm going to impose any jail Fleet said Kelly said he has been pastor at the 300-member 44-year-old Mount Zion Church in Boynton Beach for nine years But it was as owner of Southeast Roofing a contracting business he runs out of his house that Kelly met with Hamilton and Vernon Smith of Fort Lauderdale that day in July Hamilton said he and Smith went to Kelly to collect $150 for a roofing job contracted by Kelly that they had done on a house in Margate earlier that day After he argued with Kelly for more than an hour about the money Hamilton said he started to leave when Kelly fired two shots into WALTER MICHOT Miami Herald Start The Rev Thadore Kelly at the Broward County Courthouse after his conviction vvssvWn Ws-Xnv Hwjt jjsSfc' fa Holiday second row center While flood warnings for elevations as high as 2000 feet above sea level crackled over the radios of their far-off New England and their shawled and scarfed neighbors in Lawrence Mass squeezed between the slush on the street and the word of another approaching cold front Grace and Armand Coletta sat happily in front of Johnson Street bandshell forgetting about Home Sleet Home -sXVS vi yV ERICA BERGER Miami Harald Start Elderly city worker with green thumb not wronged in job ouster city decides the City Commission Bid The City Commission Wednesday: Approved a proposed legislative bill establishing an authority to oversee the planned performing-arts center in downtown Fort Lauderdale Agreed to cosponsor the Venetian Festival Postponed an ordinance regulating newspaper racks Postponed discussion about traffic accidents on Seabreeze Boulevard Approved guidelines for naming city parks Tentatively approved an ordinance allowing beach promotions during spring break Agreed to lease part of Snyder Park for a campground in the future Awarded a $3 8-million contract to Intercounty Construction Corp for engineering at the planned sludge-dewatering facility Awarded a $491982 federal Jobs Bill contract to contractor Leroy Wilson for construction of sidewalks plant-related jobs that open But Bachman pointed out that retirement benefits and Social Security would amount to more than another job would pay nursery is so valuable for the Olzak said sadly have over four acres there and chock full of things When I came in there it was practically a jungle and I cleaned it up and made a nice nursery out of Concluding that Olzak been discriminated against because of his age commissioners agreed there much if anything they could do was my understanding this gentleman had gone to everyone why I brought it up here today" said Commissioner John Rodstrom who introduced Olzak City Manager Connie Hoffmann later said she would try to determine if city rules would permit Olzak to run the nursery as a volunteer Two lesser qualified maintenance workers look after the plants now By ELIZABETH WILLSON Herald Staff Writer Valentine complaint with the city has been festering since Sept 29 the last day he worked as Fort horticulturist Given the option of taking a job cleaning toilets and sewage spills at the Coral Ridge sewage plant Olzak retired a victim of city budget cuts that eliminated 115 positions to reduce an anticipated $85-million deficit Wednesday morning with the help of a sympathetic city commissioner Olzak 70 told the Fort Lauderdale City Commission how he had been wronged He suggested age discrimination might have occurred was not my intention to re-' Olzak said still wanted to He blamed his supervisors and personnel officials for eliminating the position He also claimed personnel officials suggested that he retire and offered him a job he want John Purvis: Suspect maintains police forced him to confess Man recants to murder By JENNIFER SCHENKER Herald Staff Writer John Purvis recanted his confession Wednesday less than 24 hours after he told police that he stabbed Susan Hamwi to death and left her 18-month-old baby to die Edward Rumin attorney said his 42-year-old client a neighbor of denies committing the murders and will do so in court He maintains that police pressured Purvis to confess After four hours of questioning by detectives Tuesday night Purvis "caved said Rumin He described his client as a weak person who would tell anyone they want to hear The unusual person on the block is usually the suspect" said Rumin Detectives said they have suspected Purvis from the beginning He and his mother 66-year-old Emma Joe Bartlett who live several doors from Northeast Fort Lauderdale house were questioned immediately after the November murder Purvis of 1644 Poinsettia Dr has been diagnosed as a schizophrenic and has been under the care of a local psychiatrist for several years said homicide detective Rich Martin Neighbors reported that Purvis had been bothering Hamwi and that she had expressed concern about it to friends Police then began watching movements They picked him up on Tuesday night when he traveled alone to a Wilton Manors drug store to pick up a copy of Digest Purvis accompanied police voluntarily when they asked him if he would be willing to answer additional questions about the Hamwi murder said Martin He confessed after a Hollywood psychiatrist and several detectives questioned him at the station Martin said In his statement to police Purvis is a horticulturist a damn good Bachman said the best the city ever had But the job was Mayor Robert Dressier suggested that the city consider Olzak for any John Panoch a personnel analyst recalled the conversation differently Olzak just want any other job and still Panoch and Personnel Director JM Bachman said Wine bottled up at ports may be flowing soon said that he was in love with Hamwi but she rejected him He said he took a knife from his home and stabbed Hamwi in the chest after she opened her kitchen door After stabbing Hamwi Purvis told police he undressed the 38-year-old divorcee and had intercourse with her on the kitchen floor baby was crying He went in and looked at said detective Rick Rice one point he said he put a bottle in her crib but on the tape he said he recall putting anything in her room" Shane 18-month-old daughter was discovered in her crib two empty baby bottles by her side The Broward Medical Office ruled later that the infant died of dehydration three days after her death A neighbor who was hypnotized and questioned by police said Purvis and his mother were overheard arguing after the murder about who would take care of the baby Martin said During the confession Purvis claimed his mother knew of the murder Martin said Purvis said he told his mother what had happened and she disposed of his bloody clothes Martin said mother was not available for comment Wednesday By JUSTIN GILLIS Herald Staff Writer Some 2100 bottles of Italian wine held hostage for a week because of bureaucratic delays were freed Wednesday almost The state officials who regulate booze joined with the federal officials who regulate booze to waive certain requirements for importing wine That means the wine which has been sitting at the Port of Miami and Port Everglades for more than a week shortly will be turned over to its rightful recipients And that makes Ed Meyer a happy man are greatly relieved" he said Wednesday Meyer is president of the Las Olas Association a Fort Lauderdale group that plans to hold the week-long Las Olas Venetian Festival beginning Monday The wine a gift from Italian officials comes from the region around Venice supposed to be good bring you quality said Bruno Diconi an export expert with the Venice Chamber of Commerce know that large scale is the opposite of Diconi and nine other Italian officials arrived in Fort Lauderdale this week to help with the festival which is a combination cultural exchange and trade fair It will feature fashion shows real Venetian chefs an exhibit of Venetian glass and a street carnival The Venetians would like to export more goods to the United States perhaps using Fort Lauderdale as a major port of entry Some of the visiting Italians are present or would-be exporters And the wine? The state Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco agreed Wednesday to go along with federal officials and waive requirements that the wine be registered A liquor distributor will take possession of the wine at Port Everglades to avoid licensing problems then hand it over to the Las Olas Association The association plans to give it away in the street all week The liberation of the wine the only good news Wednesday group learned the Italians had brought something to go with the vino: 44 pounds of Venetian cheese Said Meyer: wine-tasting is going to be a wine-and-cheese Miami McralD Brcwcrd flews Section Mailing address: PO Box 14638 Fort Lauderdale Fla 33302 Chris Cubbison Editor Bruce Giles Managing Editor Richard Todd Advertising Manager Russ Moore Circulation Manager Fort 1520 Sunrise Blvd 33304 News: 527-8400 Sports: 527-8430 Circulation: 462-3000 Advertising: 527-8940 South Broward office: 5555 Hollywood Blvd Hollywood 33021 News: 987-3244 Sports: 987-3244 Circulation: 462-3000 Advertising: 987-3241 West Broward office: 9341 NW 57th St Tamarac 33321 News: 721-1400 Sports: 721-1400 Circulation: 462-3000 Advertising: 721-1400.