The Miami Herald du lieu suivant : Miami, Florida • 59

LOCAL iKiami Herafo FLORIDA 4B LEGISLATURE 5B DEATHS 3B SECTION FRIDAY FEBRUARY 21 1992 PB Old tales become testimony in Lykes case The famed agribusiness conglomerate whose hams hot dogs and bacon are stocked in most South Florida grocery stores is fighting to control public access to Fisheating Creek stores is fighting to control public access to Fisheating Creek Lykes claims it owns the creek The state and the federal government say the creek is "navigable" based on testimony given by men like Bill Lanier 76 and Frank Jones 83 who recounted traditions of back-country commerce on Fisheating Creek The definition of navigability hinges on a waterway's historic use as a highway of commerce said lawyer David Guest If it's navigable to the federal government the state of Florida and its people own it and no one can fence the public out Guest said Lykes attorney Charles Pitt-man said "I do not comment on pound and rabbits 8 cents each They testified under oath seated in rocking chairs on the breezy porch of the office at Ray Hendry's Sabal Palm Campground about two hours west of West Palm Beach A video camera and a court reporter recorded their words in case they are unable to testify at the eventual trial Asked why so many men depended on trading in fish meat and hides for a living when he was younger Lanier said "Well that was about it unless you wanted to go around the lake and cut cane for the sugar companies You couldn't buy a job around here much less beg a job from somebodv" paddle down Fisheating Creek killing and skinning gators and raccoons throwing away the meat and bones "I always said I'd never eat anything uglier than me" Lanier said They would salt and save the gator hides for profit "Yes sir I seen 'em walking there was a little trail beat out from the creek to Delaney's place they'd come out totin' sacks of hides" Jones said They'd dump 'em down on the floor and old Delaney'd buy them hides" Nowadays the only commerce on Fisheating Creek consists of canoe rentals and hunting leases But Jones and Lanier recalled the years of their youth when dressed frog legs brought 12 cents a pending litigation" In fact the Lykes strategy has been to argue that Fisheating Creek is not a navigable waterway just a series of "pothole lakes" connected by running water in wet season only Jones who has been told he has terminal cancer and Lanier told of making a living with their fishing nets their traps and their shotguns along Fisheating Creek in Glades County "There was a man named Delaney had a store and a barn where he kept his mules about four-five hundred yards from the creek" Jones told Guest a Sierra Club attorney representing the state in the fight for the deed to the creek Trappers and hunters would SIGNATURE SEEKER Resignations rehirings mark day at WXEL By MICHAEL CROOK Herald Staff Writer PALMDALE Fla Desperate to preserve an oral history of Florida's cowboy-fishermen before the last of them pass away lawyers in starched shirts came to a shady porch near Fisheating Creek and recorded every word spoken by a man in a denim jacket and a Farm Credit ball cap who is battling cancer Equally important in the case of Lykes Bros Inc vs US Army Corps of Engineers were the words of a man who wore round-toed cowboy boots and a Swamp Cabbage Festival cap The famed agribusiness conglomerate whose hams hot dogs and bacon are stocked in most South Florida grocery Ym hits tree man dies after strange events By MICHAEL WASHBURN Special to The Herald A West Palm Beach man was killed Thursday when he crashed his van into the front yard of a Boynton Beach home minutes after he allegedly hit a pedestrian and attempted to abduct a woman in Delray Beach Richard Phillip Cappelli 33 6355 Fairgreen Drive died instantly when the 1979 black Dodge van he was driving north on North Swinton Avenue about 1:18 am failed to stop at the intersection of Mission Hill Road crashing head on into a ficus tree Boynton Beach police spokesman Lt William Gal-braith said The van estimated to be going more than 70 mph glanced off the tree and traveled another 30 feet before hitting the house at 705 Mission Hill Road and a camping trailer parked outside he said Swinton dead-ends at Mission Hill Road At 12:05 am a black van which police suspect was Cappel-li's drove into the parking lot of Sande's Restaurant at 1717 Federal Highway in Delray 'It's been a hell of a day Needless to say it's going to be a hell of a week a hell of a month a hell of a fiscal year Sam Barbaro station president By BRAD SULTAN Special to The Herald Suspended vice president Anita Kirchen got her job at WXEL back Thursday resigned then was talked into staying John Dover the $85000 per year fund-raiser whose hiring spawned a staff revolt weeks of tension and the resignation of station Chairman Lewis "Dusty" Sang carried a box of his personal possessions out of the station saying tersely: "I have resigned" And one day after an investigative panel gave him much of what he'd put his career on the line for station president Sam Barbaro met with his staff to chart the future course of the battle-scarred public broadcasting station "It's been a hell of a day Needless to say it's going to be a hell of a week a hell of a month a hell of a fiscal year" he said Barbaro apologized for the strain on the staff families and personal lives since the Jan 15 staff revolt but appealed to his employees to ask loved ones to help WXEL's fund-raising drives this week and next "We've got to prove what we've been saying all along that we're the best" he said "It's going to be many days and long hours of hard work" Earlier in the day the WXEL board debated but eventually approved most of the investigating panel's recommendations in a tense meeting attended by 1 1 of the 16 board members Other members said they had prior commitments Although the staff is almost unanimously behind Barbaro and Kirchen the vice president for development no one applauded or even smiled when eight board members with three opposed voted to reinstate them for one year Kirchen gave Barbaro her resignation about noon which Barbaro rejected Late Thursday Barbaro said Kirchen told him she would stay He told the staff that fired assistant development director Cameron Harris would help the station for the next 30 days pending a search for her position for which she may reapply The feeling of most employees throughout the day was one of uncertainty and a little pessimism Some people said in the one-hour afternoon staff meeting they worried Sang is still running the station from his home and that the board is out to get the employees especially Barbaro Barbaro did his best to reassure them even as one employee called him "too trusting" for believing Acting Chairman Richard Kip's word that there would be no retribution against The van estimated to be going more than 70 mph glanced off the tree and traveled another 30 feet before hitting a house JOHN PINEDA Miami Herald Staff Nine-year-old Laura Collins visiting from New York hopes to get an autograph from one of the Atlanta Braves who train in West Palm Beach during the spring Pitchers and catchers reported Thursday to training camp Lawyer: Jury selection was key to Smith trial Roy Black gave tips on how he won the Smith trial broadest live on cable TV nance bimbo" Although he didn't mention Mercer by name Thursday he discussed' the S40000 she received for talking to the TV tabloid show A Current Affair He said the media should not ofTer witnesses or jurors money for their stories while the trial is going on because the outcome could be tainted Black said the advice he offered may someday help the audience a group of professionals because the more successful people arc the more likely they are to be charged by someone I seeking revenge "If you're a president of a company or you have success in vour social life it's amazing what will happen" By JUDY A PLUNKETT Herald Staff Writer Television coverage of the William Kennedy Smith trial educated Americans about the criminal justice system but if Smith attorney Roy Black had it to do all over again he would still fight to exclude cameras from the courtroom National media coverage makes defendants even more nervous during testimony than they would normally be Black said Thursday in his speech to the Gold Coast Forum a group of local business men and women It also damages defendants' reputations because the public hears almost nothing but deroga- Beach and struck 35-year-old Robert William Thomas of Boynton Beach before fleeing the area according to police reports Thomas was transported to Bethesda Memorial Hospital where he was listed in fair condition and was being treated for leg injuries About 1 am a man driving a black Dodge van which police also believe was Cappelli stopped in the 600 block of North Federal Highway jumped out and attempted to force a 24-year-old Delray Beach woman into the van according to police reports The woman escaped when the man tore her blouse from her body Delray Beach police began searching the area for the van spotting it several times before seeing it speed north on North Swinton Avenue and out of the city Reba and Sheldon Friedland who own the house Cappelli hit said they were asleep when the accident occurred and were startled awake by the loud crash "When I heard it it sounded like thunder to me" said Sheldon 67 "I didn't know what it was and then the police knocked on the door telling us to evacuate" The Friedlands who had moved into the house in December and two visiting relatives were asked to leave the house because of the gas and oil that spilled on the driveway They were not injured The impact of the van hitting the ficus tree tilted the tree which is about five feet in diameter backward toward the house and littered the front yard with glass from the windshield About SI 000 worth of damage was done to the house a broken outside lamp and damaged stucco and the camping trailer "I Shudder to think what could've happened" Reba said "Thank God that tree was there to keep us safe It was a nightmare to wake up to this" tory comments about the accused he said Those reputations are difficult to rebuild even when found innocent as Smith was on Dec 1 1 Black also gave the lawyer-dominated audience tips on how he won the Smith trial which was broadcast live on cable television Jury selection was key to his success and he questioned each juror for about an hour and a half "The biggest problem lawyers have in the courtroom is that we don't listen to what people have to say" Black said He did not mention highly publicized comments he made three weeks ago in New York here he told a group of lawy ers that the trial has helped Smith get dates At that meeting he also referred to defense witness Anne Mercer as "a blond high-mainte Consultant: Farmers need funding pest reforms We are in need of new tools MADELINE MELL1NGER head of a Jupiter-based firm While researchers search for more natural ways to protect fruits and vegetables from destructive insects she said Congress must reform current environmental regulations to cut pesticide producers' costs of registering their products with the Environmental Protection By KATHERINE SHAVER States News Service WASHINGTON The high cost of meeting federal environmental standards is forcing many companies to stop producing the pesticides needed to protect 95 percent of Florida's agriculture a Florida crop consultant told Congress on Wednesday Florida farmers also need more federal funding for nonchemical pest control measures to compete against consumers' growing concern that their fruits and vegeta- ter pest control measures Mellinger noted that since the 1988 regulations took effect 25000 pesticides have been voluntarily canceled by their producers because the costs of registering for federal safety approval began to exceed their profits Florida produce and an ear ot sweet corn we have to help our growers stay in business" Mellinger told the House agriculture subcommittee And to stay in business she said southeastern growers facing humidity-lov ing insects need bet bles are laden with too manv pesticides said Madeline Mellinger president of Glades Crop Care Inc a Jupiter-based crop con-suiting firm "To make sure people in Washington in Februarv can enjoy a fresh salad with tasty Agency "We are in need of new tools and in some pest and crop situations we are alreadv desperate" Mellinger said.