The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 256

ro i frr tf tt wt 2D The Miami Herald Tuesday April 16 1985 Jury in child abuse trial to be sequestered wrmwm remaining seven jurors The judge did not elaborate on why she decided to sequester the jury Snowden 38 South Miami's police officer of the year in 1983 is charged with three counts of child abuse An 11 -year-old girl is expected to testify that she was sexually assaulted by Snowden three times in his Homestead home between April and October 1977 wife was a baby sitter for the girl Snowden is expected to offer an alibi defense saying that he was separated from his wife and not living at home in mid-1977 The judge started the selection process with a series of questions What do you know about the case against Snowden? the judge asked All of the jurors said they never heard of Snowden Do you believe an 11 -year-old child can remember a traumatic event that happened when the child was the judge asked Most jurors answered yes Do you believe that children tell the truth about important matters? the judge answered Some jurors hesitated Most answered yes One juror said she had doubts about the testimony you said you believe a child of 11 could remember when she was By AL MESSERSCHMIDT Herald Staff Writer The jury in the child abuse trial of suspended South Miami police officer Harold Grant Snowden will be seques-' tered and under police guard a Circuit Court judge said Monday Judge Amy Steele Donner predicted that jury selection which started Monday could end Wednesday The cumbersome process of jury selection began with 15 potential jurors Ten potential jurors were questioned Monday and five were dismissed by the judge Five more will be questioned beginning today you are picked tomorrow you will not be going the judge told the Robbins listed 32 potential witnesses for the trial Rabin listed 17 Rabin told each juror that only two people were in bedroom during the alleged incidents not going to be a long parade of witnesses here who can testify about what he said The potential jurors include a Florida Power Light Co electrician who is a Vietnam veteran a Hialeah woman who is an office manager and who was mugged in December 1984 a retired tire company employee who lives in South Miami a retired North Miami Beach man whose parents died at Auschwitz and a speech pathologist who is the wife of a lawyer 4" said special prosecutor Sam Rabin she never said anything until she was 1 the juror asked Rabin answered yes then asked do you believe that could the girl a the juror asked a Rabin said it only happened the juror asked three times" Rabin said think she could remember it happened" the juror said Defense attorney Fred Robbins repeatedly described Snowden as South police officer of the year Rabin called Snowden a suspended police officer Victim was shot detectives say in body parts case ERICA BERGER Miami Herald Staff Helicopter pilots spray pesticide over Opa-locka Monday to fight medflies i Medfly crews to continue on foot today Composite sketches: Male victim at top By JOAN FLEISCHMAN Herald Staff Writer An unidentified man whose body was found in pieces floating in Biscayne Bay and other Dade waterways was shot to death Metro-Dade police said Monday But investigators say they are not certain what killed an unidentified woman whose dismembered body also washed ashore in pieces and whose murder may be related Dr Valerie Rao the Dade County associate medical examiner who performed the autopsy said the woman had a head injury a blunt but it was not severe enough to kill her Homicide detectives Cliff Nelson and Ted Mac Arthur have no idea who the victims were where they were from or where they were killed They do believe both were dead before they were dismembered MacArthur said he took three fingerprints from the left hand including excellent that he sent to the FBI but so far there has been no match with prints on record Over eight days the body parts surfaced on beaches throughout Dade near the Miami Seaquarium the seaport and Matheson Hammock marina and even behind the Newport Resort Hotel in Sunny Isles The first piece in the grisly murder puzzle turned up April 2 near the Seaquarium Two men fishing off a pier saw a floating object they thought was an injured manatee They borrowed a boat and hauled it in only to discover it was the headless naked torso of a man Two days later a beachcomber found the torso on the shoreline off the Rickenbacker Causeway The torso had been wrapped in a JP Stevens fitted yellow sheet with a pattern of butterflies and green flowers and stuffed into a green plastic garbage bag Over the next five days the head and right leg were recovered along with the thigh head legs and left arm Rao and Dr Stephen Blair a fellow assistant medical examiner matched the body parts and came up with detailed descriptions Miami police artist John Valor drew composite sketches of the two victims The man who had multiple gunshot wounds in the chest and abdomen was believed to be from 30 to 35 of short to average height and between 165 and 180 pounds Police are uncertain of his race but said he was hairy and dark skinned He bore a homemade tattoo on his upper right arm with the letters and also had an 11-inch diagonal scar running from the waistline in the small of later be discovered as causing birth defects or cancer or who knows what protesting I think wrong risking the population for the benefit of oranges located in other parts of the The state and federal agricultural experts in the medfly project say malathion in the concentration being used is not dangerous to humans Still they have advised people with asthma and other severe respiratory problems to be indoors with the air conditioning on when the helicopter is close by and to stay in for 30 minutes after it leaves their neighborhoods been getting quite a number of calls from people who are mainly disturbed about their children going to and from school or playing said Hermione Spahn a staff member in Rep office been very courteous but upset They want the spraying The callers were told that Lehman who was in Washington could not help now that the sprinkling had been started Spahn said no complaints were received earlier According to the people running the project the concentration of malathion being used is 24 ounces in 96 ounces of protein syrup per acre That is said to be much less than householders use to control fleas and other insects in their yards Except for people with breathing problems like asthma the worst potential harm to humans is temporary eye irritation for anyone who looks straight up as the helicopter passes they said Lee County mosquito controller Wayne Miller who came from Fort Myers to supervise the operation of his helicopter said the mixture is being sprinkled at a rate of a gallon to 53 acres To kill mosquitoes he sprays a gallon over 48 acres Miller and Charles Poucher the pest eradication and control chief said early morning is the favored time because midday heat can vaporize the drops into an inhalable mist The wind is also lightest early in the day Monday morning it blew at about 8 miles an hour At 15 mph or more the wind would scatter the drops too widely they explained A fairly hard rain within two hours after sprinkling can wash away the bait and poison requiring repetition of the process It drizzled sporadically during the morning and early afternoon enough to stop the poisoning for 90 minutes but not enough to force a re-sprinkling of territory already covered MEDFLY from ID sprinkling the poisoned bait from an altitude of 150 to 200 feet over 145 square miles of Opa-locka North Miami North Miami Beach Biscayne Park Miami Shores and unincorporated Dade Florida Agriculture Commissioner Doyle Conner in blue blazer and cowboy hat rode above and behind the sprinkler in a smaller chopper for the first 15 minutes very quiet in North Miami at 6:15 in the morning I can tell Conner reported when he returned to earth It did not stay quiet for long Before noon with the helicopter chop-chopping eastward from avenue to avenue phones were ringing with complaints in the local office of US Rep William Lehman the congressman One of those calling to complain was Robert Lewis is a known poison and although the statements up to now are that not considered dangerous to the human population who Lewis said as the helicopter was crisscrossing his block of Northeast 158th Street years ago they said asbestos was not dangerous DDT was used for many years and now banned Any poison could his back to the right shoulder blade near the armpit The scar was not from surgery Dr Blair said a healed old he said The woman was white from 20 to 35 years 5 feet 2 inches tall and about 120 pounds She was wearing a plaid two-piece sunsuit blue with lavender and peach colored stripes She had a scar from a Caesarean section as well as a horizontal scar on her chin and another small scar from her left wrist to her palm Woman killed when car slams into concrete pole A Northwest Dade woman was killed in the 8000 block of Northwest 32nd Avenue when she lost control of her car and ran into a concrete pole said Metro-Dade police Detective William Solen Susie Levariety 54 of 450 NW 88th St was headed south on Northwest 32nd Avenue about 10 pm Sunday when her car veered off the road and onto the sidewalk near Northwest 81st Terrace Solen said 1979 Ford rolled along the sidewalk about 100 feet before slamming into a concrete pole She was dead at the scene FAU high-tech park OKd by state panel authority to accept proposals from developers FAU attorney Leonard Klatt said Last year the counties both agreed to give FAU $50000 to create the seven-member authority The authority which consists of Popovich and three members each from Broward and Palm Beach counties will hire the professionals needed to build the park Klatt said he know when the authority will have its first meeting The 30- to 60-acre park would be divided into two areas Klatt said The larger area would be rented to established companies that develop high-tech products The smaller area would be an for fledgling companies with ideas for products he said The companies would receive help from FAU professors and graduate students and would have access to the libraries and computers he said If a small company succeeded in developing a product it would either move to the larger area of the park or move out of the park he said By MIKE WILSON Herald Staff Writer The state Research and Development Commission Monday approved Florida Atlantic plan to appoint an authority to build a high-tech research and development park on campus FAU President Helen Popovich this week will ask Broward and Palm Beach county commissions to pass an ordinance allowing the 'I West Palm salon son talked of arson girlfriend says All 4 leading contenders undeterred by proposal for a full-time mayor By BRIAN RICHARDSON Herald Staff Writer Maria son told his former girlfriend that Bruno planned the arson of her West Palm Beach beauty salon she get the money she wanted for the the girlfriend alleges in a sworn statement released Monday son Ralph Ramer is under indictment on charges of first-degree murder and arson at the salon His friend Dean Dens-berger was killed in the fire at the Okeechobee Boulevard salon last May 12 Bruno a former political power-broker is herself under indictment for witness tampering after allegedly telling Pamela Young former girlfriend not to say anything to a grand jury investigating the incident Monday night Bruno called Young a liar of true none of Bruno said girl has done enough damage When is she going to stop? Thoughts are being put in her head I did not have my beauty salon burned Young told investigators she was riding with Ramer the night of the fire when he told her they see But then when the two saw fire trucks near the beauty shop will not go to jail I can just go if I have to I will just turn myself Young heard Bruno say she really had a conversation with Dean and Ralph together and really planned it Bruno insisted Monday night she has a witness whom she would not identify who will testify that Young made up her story Bruno alleges Young is angry at her for not allowing her to marry Ramer Other documents released by prosecutors Monday show: An unidentified man said in two polygraph examinations that Bruno did not pay Densberger or him for the arson The polygraph indicated he was lying both times brother told police Raiper had told him were getting $1000 up front to do the job and it was a piece of cake and nothing could go Another witness claimed Ramer and Densberger told him a burglary at the beauty shop the evening before the fire a County Fire Prevention Chief Russell Reese was told by brother that Ramer and Dean planned to burn the business for Bruno who was to pay according to an investigative report Ramer told her that happened too fast it supposed to explode until after 2 Young said in the statement our way on Interstate 95 from the accident I said would you even get involved your mother gets you involved in something like this and why would Dean do something like And he said guess it was the thousand dollars up front I said lost his life for In her statement Young said: Ramer told her that he Densberger and another man whose name was blacked out by a order on copies of the statement released to reporters had planned the arson As they rode around visiting bars Ramer told Young he to be seen in Ramer was supposed to call his mother after the fire it ring twice and hang to let her know everything had gone all right When Bruno learned Young knew of the plan for the fire she tearfully down on her hands and knees in front of me and held my hands and said 1 want to go to Young said Bruno told Young son will not be involved in this jind he By TOM FIEDLER Herald Political Editor A proposal to elevate the next mayor of Miami from a part-time commission chairman to a full-time city administrator deterred the major candidates from running for the job In separate interviews Monday none of the four leading contenders incumbent Mayor Maurice Ferre lawyer Xavier Suarez educator Marvin Dunn and banker Raul Masvidal said upgrading the job would cause him to reconsider his interest has complicated the said Suarez who forced Ferre into a bitter runoff in 1983 it affected my decision I feel that I have a vocation to be a Even Ferre who has long said he would not run under a strong-mayor system reversed that Monday He said that he has now decided to seek re-election irrespective of the proposed change operate full time as it he said only difference would be that I would get paid for Currently the mayor who earns $6000 a year is only one vote on the five-member commission It is the city manager hired by a commission majority who actually run3 the bureaucracy In fact the city charter prohibits the mayor and the commissioners from interfering with the manager But last Thursday the commission on a 3-2 vote tentatively asked voters to change the charter to make the mayor the chief executive of the city effectively taking over the duties of the appointed city manager A public hearing and final vote on the plan are scheduled for May 9 If the commission approves the plan a second time it will be considered by voters in a July 9 referendum This so-called strong-mayor structure is the local equivalent of the more familiar federal and state systems in which voters select both a chief executive the governor or president and members of the Legislature or Congress The legislators theoretically make policy and leave it to the executive to carry it out The commission also tentatively approved a change in the makeup increasing it from five to seven members Four of those would be elected from Maurice Ferre: Reversing longtime position districts drawn to virtually assure that blacks Hispanics and American-born white voters would be represented while three other seats would be filled by a city wide vote Both votes triggered immediate speculation on how the proposed changes might affect the mayoral campaigns Ferre has long said that if voters approve a strong-mayor format he would not seek re-election Last Thursday he also suggested that becoming a full-time mayor might interfere with his private duties as a high-paid consultant to the Lone Star cement 1 company which took over bankrupt Maule Industries several years ago.