The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 22

2B THE HERALD FRIDAY JULY 15 1994 UlliSl To provide tips leading to the arrest of those responsible for arson at the Glenn Curtiss mansion contact Metro-Dade Detective Joe Rosado at (305) 471-2499 or Miami Springs Historical Society at (305) 885-6354 their ow plans for private development on the prime site located a block from the northern edge of Miami International Airport Property speculation and the timing of the arson has left an over the project said Suco He vows to continue his efforts using the fire as an opportunity to expand support beyond the 13500 residents of tree-covered Miami Springs Meanwhile Metro-Dade arson investigators aided by Wednesday's reward offered by Manor Care identified the material that caused the fire but refused to identify it publicly Detective Joe Rosado would say only that he has given the case a As to who set the fire Rosado said vandalism has not been ruled out but investigators arc looking at what if any interests stood to benefit from having the Curtiss mansion reduced to ashes Curtiss an inventor who did for aviation what Henry Ford did for cars and the owner of the first license in US history built his famous house in 1926 Miami is present-day home of Chalk's International founded in 1919 and was the home of airlines such as Pan American Eastern and National Building a pueblo-style aviation museum next to the airport would attract up to 600000 visitors a year Suco said nothing official and almost no money definitely need something in Miami Springs Historical Society President Fred Sueo said Wednesday Suco spoke those words to Edward Ileiss general manager of the Travel-odge Hotel adjacent to the mansion They spoke at the pueblo-style gate a few feet from a police do-not-cross line outside the fire-gutted hulk Sueo also spoke by phone with one of bosses at Manor Care Inc Ileiss said he sees in having a popular museum next to his hotel soon to be renamed Comfort Inn But Heiss would go no further His company is waiting for Miami Springs to approve its expansion plans A con- By GEOFFREY TOMB Herald Staff Writer A $5000 reward is being offered for lips leading to the arrest of arsonists who set a fire that seriously damaged the historic Glenn Curtiss mansion in Miami Springs The $200000 fire on Monday left the 68-year-old mansion rootless and charred Vet a more serious flaw remains in the grand plan for salvation of the home as site of a 10 million aviation museum: There's nothing in writing Just about everybody from the Smithsonian to the Florida Cabinet to local governments to preservation groups to owners of the property has expressed verbal support But there is tract promising the mansion and 85 acres of land to nonprofit society would be corporate he said At the same time commercial interests have approached Manor Care with Critics of the Glock say it is too difficult to make ballistics matches with the guns By GAIL EPSTEIN Herald Staff Writer Responding to concerns raised by the Miami Police Department Glock Inc a major manufacturer of law enforcement weapons is developing a new gun barrel that should make it easier to hold officers accountable for their shootings Tentatively called the the new design if proven would provide a on bullets fired from each Glock barrel thus making it more identifiable than guns currently in use a Glock spokesman said Some critics of the Glock say it is too difficult to make ballistics matches with the guns Last month after experts were unable to determine which of two officers killed a bystander during a shootout Miami police announced they were reassessing whether to stick with the Glocks Those concerns sent technicians back to the drawing board Negative reports from Miami could hurt the Smyrna Ga-based company which sells weapons to hundreds of police agencies around the nation and world researching and developing a tool that will place a mark inside the barrel that will be different in each barrel with no chance of said Robert Gates national sales manager for Glock mark will then transfer its signature to a fired Maj Roberson Brown who is overseeing the Miami police weapons review said he will test the new barrel when Glock makes it available probably in about a month His biggest concern is whether the modifications will hurt the performance no circumstance ould I accept this barrel if it creates an adverse performance for my Brown said Glock cannot provide velocity and accuracy with a better signature they may not be the gun of choice for the city of Miami Police Glock is still testing the new barrel for accuracy velocity longevity and other factors Gates said 1 uniformed police have been using the Glock 17 a 9mm semiautomatic for seven years Officers in Coral Gables Medley Hialeah and Sweetwater also use the Glock Miami was about to switch to the Glock 22 a 40-caliber pistol that uses a slightly larger projee- tile when Jorge Luis Morales got I caught in the shootout between armed robbers and police on May 27 His wife was in the hospital with the newborn baby when he died Morales' death renewed linger- ing questions about the Glock In June 1993 17-year-old Lawrence Johnson was killed by one of two Miami police officers but ballistics experts couldn't match the Winchester silver-tip bullet taken from back to the Glock pistol of either officer Part of the reason is design Because of its so-called hexagonal rifling the weapon doesn't mark grooves as deeply in all bullets as do weapons with conventional rifling While Glock works on the new barrel Brown is continuing to review other 40-caliber weapons whose performance compares to the Glock Earlier this week he met with a representative of Smith Wesson He's also testing different types of ammunition Gates the Glock vice president said he is hopeful Miami police will stay with his product I has to be tested to their satisfaction and the Metro-Dade police ballistics he said 100 percent convinced this will work quite Ch 7 exec heads to new Iowa job By HALBOEDEKER Herald Television Critic Brian Greif the innovative news director of WSVN-Channel 7 for the past year announced this week he will leave the station to accept a TV consulting job in his native Iowa Alice Jacobs 31 a WSVN veteran and now news director at WHDH in Boston will replace him at an undetermined date WHDH and WSVN are both owned by Sunbeam Television Corp Greif 34 said he was leaving to accept a ery' offer from Frank Magid Associates in Marion Iowa his Before coming to South Florida he won acclaim at WHO in Des Moines In his new job Greif will help big stations learn how to cover major stories by culling information from disparate sources as WSVN did on the Simpson story the Los Angeles earthquake and the California fires Greif replaced Joel Cheatwood now senior vice president of Sunbeam Jacobs who was promoted to news director in Boston on March 1 said she had just learned of her new assignment at WSVN merely will keep it going fine-tuning and following she said WSVN news director to be TV consultant thought I would be at WSVN for a long time but too good to pass he said Greif who took his job here last September also welcomed the chance to move his wife and two young children closer to their families Greif guided WSVN through its recent highly-rated OJ Simpson coverage brought the 7 Newsplex set to the air and oversaw a 1 75-person staff Teen who stabbed classmate ruled insane found not guilty Prosecutors asked that the boy be sent to a hospital far away from the victim Mover faces fraud charges Clients: Items not delivered By JOSE LUIS JIMENEZ Herald Staff Writer The owner of the now-defunct Atlas Universal Moving and Storage company has been arrested and charged with failing to deliver more than $50000 worth of furniture Duval County police arrested Robert Geoffrey Littick 39 of Coral Springs on June 7 on a warrant issued in March by the Oakland Park Police Department after Littick allegedly failed to move the belongings of former Oakland Park residents Julie Engroff and Paul Popke Littick was released on $7500 bond and is scheduled for arraignment in Broward Circuit Court on July 21 on one count of organized fraud Littick could not be reached Wednesday for comment In November Engroff contracted with Atlas based in Pompano Beach to move her furniture to Illinois from her home in Oakland Park She said that what was supposed to be a three-day wait for her belongings turned into three months of hearing excuses for nondelivery Engroff complained to police in January enemies were at their feet The enemies looked like teenage bovs A paper in the court file dated about two months before the crime seems to show an obsession with violence "'An A student looks like a normal person except got this trusty gun that he uses to bribe the teachers I would sit as close to the teachers as possible so I could let the gun hang out of my bag slightly and he would see Van Schaik writes apparently in answer to a question from a teacher has to buy oneself a bribery mechanism including but not limited to gun knife the paper continues in a rambling nonsensical style At the top of the page the teacher wrote in flowing script: seems you are hung up on guns and violence Should I and your parents be Scrawled below the note: Prosecutor Carlos Rebollo said Wednesday the mental-health reports showed the boy had been depressed on and off for the previous two years as his straight-A grades slid to By AMY DRISCOLL Heraid Stall Writer When 16-year-old Paul Van Schaik took a steak knife in each hand and furiously stabbed a classmate 15 times in February he was plagued by computer-game demons that drove him insane a Broward County judge decided Circuit Judge Barry Goldstein had five mental-health experts evaluate Van Schaik charged with attempted first-degree murder before declaring him not guilty by reason of insanity He will be sent to a maximuni-security state mental hospital "Paul was beset by said his defense attorney Lawrence Roberts "He felt that if he could commit a horrendous act he could become an ally to these demons They would accept him rather than torment The quiet withdrawn student drew up a hit list of five people: three classmates a teacher and a coach at his school Coconut Creek High School The list was discovered in his locker after the Feb 7 stabbing of computer classmate Christopher Hill 16 an honors student The sixth-period class was about to begin when Van Schaik pulled two wood-handled knives from his book bag clutched one in each hand and began plunging them into the boy who sat directly in front of him He stabbed Hill 15 times before fleeing the classroom Classmates and a security guard tackled him in a parking lot outside first thing he said to the security guard was am I still here? I was supposed to be Roberts said thought he would somehow be mystically removed from this world He said he thought he would be taken to what he called a "different At least one of the court-appointed psychologists Dr John Spencer felt those delusions and statements showed an addiction to video games Roberts said The boy played them frequently at home he said In the locker were papers on which he had drawn demonic warriors with flames coming out of their bodies triumphantly holding dripping knives Slain CHARLES TRAINOR Jr Herald Stall CHEERS Alex Obregon roots for the Miami Dolphins during a basketball game that pitted the professional sportsmen against an FBI team The bout took place Wednesday at the Boys Club of Miami gym where 500 children watched the game The youngsters were participants in the United Way Sports Week at the club i i.