The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 45

BUSINESS4B DEATHS3B Wednesday September 23 1987 The Miami Herald Section Tiny turtles get survival boost By LORI ROZSA lleruld Slufl Writer Under the watchful eyes of turtle-loving biologists and conservationists 50 tiny loggerhead hatchlings scratched their way across a beach on Keewaydin Island Tuesday for the 40-mile swim to the Gulfstream If the turtles are lucky they get eaten by fish or sharks or other predators and can live for up to 50 years by feeding on Sargasso grass The babies were given a leg up on survival by the six-year-old hatchling program for the loggerhead a threatened species The Conservancy has released 6600 hatchlings this year Shelley Thilleman of the Conservancy helped 50 of them out of their nest Tuesday After she made an opening in the top of the shallow sand nest and the hatchlings saw light they frantically climbed all over each other to get out She carefully scooped them up and put them into the bucket When Mezich overturned the bucket about 20 yards from the water the turtles scambled out and hurried westward The two-inch-long baby Loggerheads have a natural instinct that unfailingly guides them to the water biologists say A few of the turtles strayed a little north but eventually went in the right direction One of them struggled for a minute over an old flattened beer can littering the beach but made it over and into the water so tiny you wonder how going to make it that Conservancy spokeswoman Janis Johnson said as she watched them being swept offshore The Conservancy also released two 25-month-oid Loggerheads Salty the Sea Turtle and Logger-head Louie that were raised in the hatchling program The turtles can grow to weigh as much as 350 pounds can protect them from predators while their in the nests but about all we can Mezich said as the turtles swam away on their own estimate that only one in 1000 eggs survives to adulthood under natural Conservancy biologist Ron Mezich said just before he dumped out the white plastic bucket full of turtles think that with this hatchling program one in 100 will Since the beginning of the nesting season in May Conservancy biologists and assistants have scanned Keewaydin Island south of Naples for turtle nests They have taken more than 6000 eggs from the nests on the beach and transplanted them to a hatchling pen on the island There surrounded by a locked fence to keep predators away the eggs incubated until the turtles were ready Conservancy staff members hold Loggerhead Louie and Salty the Sea Turtle before releasing them to the Gulf Alice Blanco 23 of Miami her chest to throw a net has to go the extra mile up to into the water to catch bait fish off a Naples beach She was visiting Naples with her sister Alina Blanco 28 Barefoot Beach buy approved by county Cost estimated at $31 million By TRACEY EATON lleruld Stull Writer Collier County commissioners Tuesday unanimously agreed to join the state in buying a 3100-foot stretch of Barefoot Beach for $31 million The agreement be final until approval by state officials The county's share of the payment would be about $1 million and the state would pay up to $21 million depending on a pending appraisal of the land The county would also pay $500000 in improvements to the land expected to become a park by the early 1990s The state proposes to pay its $21 million share using money from the $25 million Save Our Coasts program State officials drafted the purchase proposal that was before the commission Tuesday The commissioners modified the proposal before approving it Their main concern was having a way to escape or at least change the agreement in case the land is appraised at less than the expected $31 million The Lely Development Corp owns the land roughly a 40-acre tract The company offered to sell it after The Conservancy a Naples-based environmental group filed a lawsuit and won a settlement that drastically reduced the number of homes that could be built on the site Collier commissioners decided in March to contribute $1 million toward the purchase of the beachfront property In June they added another $500000 to improve the land and $50000 to hold the property for four months while a final purchase plan was reached Also Tuesday the commissioners: Voted 5-0 to approve a $210 million five-year capital improvements plan Under state law the county must have a plan outlining what it plans to spend for roads water and sewer systems parks and other projects over the next five years Voted 5-0 to cancel an Oct 27 referendum asking voters if the local-option sales tax should be raised by one cent Commissioners said they would reschedule the referendum in mid-October In other action Monday night commissioners gave final approval to the $192 annual budget For property owners the budget means a 125 percent increase in taxes over last year The owner of a typical home one appraised at $100000 after exemptions will pay $44498 up from $39561 last year Emily brings hurricanes to mind Lesser charge is accepted in rape case Girl 6 victim of bizarre attack By TRACEY EATON lleruld Staff Writer A man accused of kidnapping a 6-year-old Naples Manor girl raping her punching her and threatening to feed her to alligators pleaded no contest on Monday to a lesser charge of attempted sexual battery George Thomas Bowman a 34-year-old electrician also pleaded no contest to a charge of burglary linked to the accusation that he broke into the home In addition as part of a plea agreement reached before trial Tuesday morning the state dropped a kidnapping charge Collier investigators allege that Bowman broke into the girl's home Aug 7 1986 took her from her bed as she slept and drove her to a secluded spot off County Road 951 Then investigators allege Bowman beat the girl threatened her with a knife when she refused to take her clothes off and eventually sexually assaulted her The girl later told investigators that Bowman also threatened to put her on the end of a chain and feed her to alligators After his arrest Bowman allegedly admitted that he committed the sexual assault He also allegedly told authorities he went to the house with the intentions of abducting the sister who he claimed was 14 court records show Actually the sister was 9 In the weeks before the scheduled trial mother Tammy White wrote the judge saying honor my son is a very good person not just because my son Please get him help If it for people giving him drugs no way in this world would he do this kind of thing I hope God has mercy on the people who sell that attorney Assistant Public Defender Thomas Osteen said Bowman planned to rely on an insanity defense if the case went to trial A Naples doctor said in court records that Bowman may have been insane at the time of the alleged incident If Bowman had been convicted of sexually assaulting the girl he would have faced a life prison sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years Osteen said in a motion that the sentence would be cruel and unusual punishment By pleading no contest to the lesser charge of attempted sexual assault Bowman avoided the possible life sentence Now in custody at the Collier County Jail Bowman be sentenced until after a presentencing investigation parents get jury award after accident ST PETERSBURG (AP) The parents of a young boy who was struck and killed by an automobile on a closed portion of the Sunshine Skyway bridge in 1981 have been awarded $442250 in damages A lawsuit filed on behalf of the family of 6-year-old Hyo Yol Choe sought $11 million from the owner of the car and the Florida Department of Transportation as owner of the bridge A jury found the DOT was not at fault in the death of the youngster who was struck by a car on Jan 1 1981 The section of bridge was closed to traffic after a freighter accident eight months earlier The boy had been on a fishing trip with his father Chung Hwan Choe The section of bridge where the Chces were was being used as a fishing pier By LORI ROZSA Herald Staff Writer It was sunny and clear in Southwest Florida most of the day Tuesday but local emergency management officials had stormy weather on their minds as they gathered in Naples and Fort Myers to discuss strategy in case Hurricane Emily hits south Florida just in the awareness phase of our hurricane plan John Wilson director of the Lee County emergency management office said monitor the storm and stay in contact with various cities and surrounding Collier County disaster preparedness director Ken Pineau met with officials from the Red Cross the school district the city of Naples and the department to discuss evacua tion plans had a threat of any kind in the last couple of years and we want to get everybody up to speed" Pineau said will probably be a good 24 hours before we put anybody on alert I think have anything to worry about at least not for 48 hours or In July 1985 Tropical Storm Bob dumped 1 1 inches of rain on much of Collier County over 30 windy soggy hours In Lee County Bob heaved 10-foot-high waves over Fort Myers Beach and blew the roof off a condominium on Sanibel Island The storm cut off Sanibel and Captiva when 70-mhp wind gusts forced officials to close the causeway linking the barrier islands with the mainland The last major hurricane to strike local shores was Hurricane Donna in 1960 It washed away the Naples Pier and caused property damage but no deaths Pineau said the county would need from 12 to 18 hours to evacuate Marco Island if a hurricane threatened the area projected evacuation time is about 12 hours he said Collier County high schools would serve as evacuation centers In Lee County Wilson estimated it would take about 19 hours to evacuate the beach areas in the case of the weakest type of hurricane For the strongest hurricane it would take 22 V2 hours Wilson said that there's not a whole lot of the county Wilson said Dade trails nation in SAT scores By CATHY SHAW Herald Stafj Writer Dade scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test dropped a few points in 1987 and continued to trail average scores in Florida and the nation results released Tuesday show Local educators were not alarmed no particular significance in the change in scores" Assistant Superintendent Ray Turner said of scores that dropped four points to 398 on the verbal section of the test and five points to 453 on the math section At the same time the number of Dade students taking the test rose by 600 to 5524 the number of kids increases average scores tend to go Turner said encourage kids to take the test and we don discourage those who are going to bring the average down" In Collier County school officials received SAT results Tuesday but decided not to address them until today scores just arrived (Tuesday and we even opened them up Collier County schools spokesman Cary Church said "We want to take some time to analyze them" The aptitude test is a college entrance examination that admissions officers use along with grades recommendations and interviews in predicting who will do well in college Nationally scores among 11 million college-bound students held steady this year raising questions in some minds about the impact of the school reform movement Scores dropped one point to 430 on the verbal section and rose one point to 476 on the math the College Board reported In Florida the average verbal score was 423 and the average math score 470 is below the national average because our population is very different from the national Turner said Many students are from disadvantaged minority groups and many learned English as their second language Nationwide the scores of black students improved this year The average score for blacks has risen 21 points since 1977 to 351 on the verbal section and 20 points to 377 in math is positive" College Board President Donald Stewart said the simple truth is that the SAT scores of black and white students are a long way from parity" White students averaged 447 on the verbal section in 19b7 and 489 on the math Each section is scored on a scale of 200-800 most interesting about the SAT results is the consistency in the last five years that minorities are rising faster than their white counterparts" said Keith Geiger vice president of the National Education Association a teachers union pleasing to us to know that the kinds of programs implemented in schools over the last five or ten years are starting to pay off" But Stewart noted that only 54 percent of blacks take four years of high school math compared with 75 percent of Asian Americans and 63 percent of all students IE iif I'yi i roiMMaiiMfim and coaches are invited to attend the Substance Abuse Workshop at Epiphany Cathedral Parish Hall in Venice on Saturday The workshop will focus on adolescent drug problems in the morning session and adult alcohol abuse in the afternoon session Details: 455-8371 BIBLE FELLOWSHIP A Bible study and fellowship is offered every Tuesday morning from 1030 to 1 1:30 a at the Church of God 1074 Tenth St in Naples Anyone wishing to study the Bible is invited to attend Details: 262-2144 TYKE VANDER ZEE Gulf Coast Religion Notes appears on alternate Wednesdays in The Herald If your church or synagogue Ue to let thepubhc know about its events or act vile nr le Re' on Notes The Miami Herald 1053 Fifth At Ns 'es Fa 25910 Christian committee sponsors stress management seminar A local committee of Christian women in Naples is sponsoring a stress management seminar for women on Oct 3 from 8:45 am to 3 pm at the Naples Bath Tennis Club conducted by Barbara Lee Johnson a Bible teacher and author of Count It All Joy and Pathway to Prayer Johnson who is founder and director of Total Life Ministries conducts a weekly rado broadcast and teaches a weekly Bible class to 353 women Registration for the seminar lunch and material is $16 Deadline for registration is Oct 1 Details: 262-0550 or 455-2768 RADIO MINISTRY The First Baptist Church of Naples 1595 Pine Ridge Road launches its radio ministry Oct 4 with a broadcast of morning worship services every Sunday at 1 1 a on WAYJ-FM 88 7 Doug Jividen and Ken Moody will also host a youth show each Saturday at 1130 EVIDENCE AGAINST EVOLUTION A six-part film series called Origins featuring scientist and Christ an Dr A Wilder-Smith begins at 6 pm on Sunday at the Covenant Presbyterian Church 6326 Trail Blvd in Naples The film uses special effects and around the world photography revealing evidence against evolut on SUBSTANCE ABUSE WORKSHOP PufclC and private school teachers admmsfrafcrs coursc'crs nurses.