The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 435

Charles Whited2D Business5D ClassifiedllD Thursday September 27 1984 The Miami Herald Section Island residents told to prepare for possible storm Shelter evacuation map 23A telling everyone in the county that they should certainly secure boats and loose ends and everything else that could fly civil defense spokesman Janice Drewing weaknesses before they could cause serious problems Equipment was tied down Various city buildings were being prepared for a storm Supplies were checked gives us an opportunity to check whether our hurricane readiness plans and systems are said Key West Mayor Richard Heyman Koford said if the weather is bad today City Hall employes will be told to stay home In Key West Wednesday clear skies prevailed Although some residents began buying batteries and other provisions at local stores most carried on with normal activities By PATTY SHILLINGTON Herald Staff Writer Tropical Storm Isidore poses no immediate threat to Key West Monroe County officials said late Wednesday but all island residents should secure boats and buy emergency provisions in case the storm changes direction and heads south In the Upper Keys an emergency operations center was opened by the the Monroe County Civil Defense Office in Plantation Key and the Card Sound Road was closed to all traffic at 7:30 Wednesday night because of flooding spokesman Lee Pinder said other emergency provisions should be gathered in the event the unpredictable storm strengthens or changes directions she said really in a holding posture at this she said are still preparing in the Upper Keys as if that will be the area most significantly Key West City Manager Joel Koford said Wednesday the city began testing its emergency procedures to discover any taken by all residents of the slender chain of islands that make up the Keys officials said telling everyone in the county that they should certainly secure boats and loose ends and everything else that could fly said civil defense spokesman Janice Drewing Drewing stressed that no evacuation had been recommended as of late Wednesday Water canned food flashlights and unusually high tides caused by the storm had covered parts of the Card Sound Road with seven to eight inches of water Card Sound Road connects North Key Largo to Florida City on the mainland Florida Highway Patrol troopers were standing by in Florida City to send vehicles to the Keys along US 1 Pinder said the road would remain closed at least until this morning Preliminary precautions should be City Traffic data helping city plan growth wins EPA grant for sewers Work to begin next January By JEAN FRANCZYK Herald Staff Writer With a $25 million grant from the US Environmental Protection Administration the city of Key West will be able to continue repairing its badly deteriorating sewer system The city has to provide about another $1 million for the project to repair sewer pipes in Old Town sewers be replacing were put in by the WPA (Works Progress Administration) prior to World War said City Manager Joel Koford They are the ones he said Wednesday always cause For years officials have been battling what they call a sewei The sewage lines are so old that sea watei underground seeps into pipes reducing their capacity to hold sewage and carry it to the treatment plant Repairs begin until January 1985 but once they are complete the problem of seepage probably will end said Assistant A City Manager Bill Overfelt Including the most recent grant the city has received $83 million from the EPA for repairs on the sewage system But the repair project is nowhere near finished still got to fix a few more sewer lines and pressure mains and then build a primary and secondary water treatment Overfelt said want to get as much grant money as possible but a lot of competition for those By the time the city finishes its project the total cost will have reached $20 million slightly less than half of it funded by the city The city is required to make the improvements so it can meet standards of the federal Clean Water Act According to the act the improvements should be made by 1988 By PATTY SHILLINGTON Herald Staff Writer Traffic counts in Key West like other first-ever planning studies are breaking myths about the island and giving city planners data they need to gauge the impact of new downtown development on Old Town roads is really the first time had access to this Assistant City Planner Tom Wilson said Wednesday The data collected during the last year shows that traffic increases about 20 percent in Key West during the tourism season although many residents and officials have long believed traffic doubles during the peak months of winter Wilson said The perception that there are more vehicles in Key West than really exist shows that the traffic is concentrated in the congested and visible Old Town area where roads already are carrying a full capacity of cars Wilson said all know Duval Street is as busy as it can he said beyond its Wilson said the traffic counts which will now be available each month will help the city decide how to control new traffic that will be generated by downtown developments such as Reflections The Galleon and the redevelopment area of the Truman Annex either end of Front Street got an enormous concentration of he said streets just possibly support that kind of State and local planners with the help of traffic engineers hope to use the traffic studies to consider alternative road uses such as creating more one-way streets in Old Town or possibly blocking off parts of the district to traffic Because all cars enter the island the same way over the Cow Key Bridge planners can now count all visitors to Key West except those arriving by plane or boat West is unique that Wilson said everyone who enters has to come in over that A traffic counter at the Cow Key Bridge being used by the Monroe County Civil Defense Department for an emergency evacuation study is also showing daily traffic flow into Key West For example the traffic counter reveals that during the September morning rush hours 800 more vehicles travel into Key West from the Lower Keys than leave Key West for jobs outside the island Wilson said can analyze how much traffic comes from tourists commuters and so Wilson said the first time we will have the capacity to project how many people will come here for Fantasy Fest or for boat In addition Wilson says Key West police will be able to determine when and where extra enforcement is needed from the traffic data Next month the state Department of Transportation (DOT) is expected to release additional information from the first phase of its study on traffic in Key West Overfelt called the deadline bit PAM SMITH O'HARA I Miami Herald Start Crown of leaves We ve got to find land for the piants abtain the funds and then Majestic pines in the Corkscrew Swamp wildlife preserve Located in Collier County the sanctuary fi5 8of sanctuary form a perfect ring of branches and leaves includes a boardwalk for nature lovers to stroll high over the head of visitors to this Audubon Society watching the animals their natural habitat Acting school principal chosen Amnesia victim recalls identity wants it secret Around The Area Dale Wolgast an eight-year veteran of the Monroe County school system serving an administrative internship at Coral Shores High took over Wednesday as acting principal of Key Largo Elementary School Wolgast who for the past three years was the community school coordinator at Key Largo Elementary replaces Ed Caputo the suspended principal who organized voluntary religion classes and defied an order last week to end them Superintendent of Schools AJ (Book-ie) Henriquez appointed Wolgast after conferring with the faculty of Key Largo Elementary said school system spokesman Janet Padron Wolgast worked with that faculty and the faculty approved of the Padron said is confident Dale can bring everybody back In the coming weeks a hearing officer will review case and recommend to the Monroe County School Board whether the veteran principal should be fired Man found guilty of kidnapping woman Angel Navarro found guilty this week of four charges relating to a March kidnapping in Marathon will be sentenced in October possibly to life in prison once they realized they were surrounded Ex-Key West resident held on drug charges A former Key West resident was being held Wednesday in the Monroe County substation in Marathon after deputies seized more than two pounds of cocaine from his van As part of an ongoing investigation detectives Tuesday afternoon pulled Barney Ballard 30 and now of Lakeland off US 1 in Marathon told detectives he was in the process of moving from Key West to Lakeland but his van was not full of stuff like luggage or things like said Jerry Powell department spokesman Powell said detectives had been notified that someone in a van would be trying to make a drug run According to Powell Ballard told detectives he was an unemployed mechanic During the van search detectives found a couple of ounces of cocaine behind the left door panel and about two pounds behind the right door panel The cocaine was wrapped in plastic bags Powell said Ballard who faces a possible 15-year prison term has been charged with trafficking cocaine Bond was set at $75000 By LAURIE ABRAHAM Herald Writer An amnesia victim who asked authorities for help two weeks ago has remembered who he is but he wants it kept secret The 21-year-old man showed up at a Fort Lauderdale hospital Sept 9 saying he remember who he was or where he came from He said all he knew about himself was that he smoked cigarettes and could play the piano He wore a T-shirt with across the front At first officers thought he might have been to Key West He says his name is Josh William Williams He is from Quincy Mass and came to South Florida to start a new life according to Maggie DeCambre coordinator of the Broward County Crisis Mental Health Unit But he wants his whereabouts and information about his past be kept confidential DeCambre said wants this chapter of his life to be forgotten" she said temporary amnesia was caused by a personal trauma she said but she declined to elaborate Police' have not confirmed identity but will not investigate because no arrest warrants have been issued for him said Karen Seaborn a missing persons investigator for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department Williams told police he woke up on the evening of Sept 8 in a small wooded park that seemed to be near the downtown area of a city he sure which one He could not remember his name or where he lived and all he had in his pockets were $6 and a half-empty pack of Benson and Hedges cigarettes He wandered around the city all night and all the next day looking for something familiar That night he went to North Beach Community Hospital and asked for help Doctors conducted drug tests and examined him for physical injuries They also checked for diseases associated with amnesia The tests came back negative Williams was taken to the Broward County crisis unit the next morning where he voluntarily admitted himself for evaluation under the Baker Act police said DeCambre said when Williams looked and when he left the crisis unit Tuesday A Monroe County jury Tuesday found Navarro guilty of armed robbery kidnapping possession of a short-barreled shotgun and grand theft in connection with the kidnapping of Barbara Perloff from her home in Sugarloaf Key It took the jury 27 minutes to return the guilty verdicts to Chief Circuit Court Judge Bill Chappell was an extremely quick said Reagan Ptomey Monroe County assistant state attorney obviously give much credence to the Navarro was the only defense witness He told the jury that the other man facing the same charges James Campay forced him to participate Campay will be tried in November for kidnapping robbery grand theft possession of sawed-off shotgun and possession of a firearm after a felony conviction The March incident began when two men went to the home of Barbara and Sheldon Perloff and abducted Mrs Perloff Eventually the two men and Mrs Perloff ended up at a Howard motel in Marathon armed with firearms and ammunition but surrounded by nine Monroe County deputies Navarro and Campay surrendered.