The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 154

FRIDAY DECEMBER 311999 WWWheraldCOm Probe reopened on van incident by home Fans band groove in Phish bowl BY GREG BAKER gbakerheraldcom At 5:05 pm Thursday the focal point of what might be among the biggest Y2K blowout stepped onto a Big Cypress reservation stage and lighted up the tribe gathered for Phish NYE 2000 Launching the first of the three sets and the first of many to come this weekend with Wafer in the Sky the mellow eclectic band drew a whoop from the crowd with the lyric Close the windows draw the shadesFilter out the Everglades Buried in memory was the gridlock Wednesday that paralyzed the Alligator Alley route to the show an agonizing trip that claimed the life of one fan who fell off the truck in which he was riding A temporary lane solely for concertgoers passing through the Everglades Parkway East Toll Plaza (in cars RVs and even cabs) helped ease the flow but what elevated the mood even more was that the four-day 75000-fan extravaganza was begin- JOE RIMKUS JRHERALD STAFF CONCERT IN THE GLADES: Phish concertgoers gather at the Big Cypress Indian Reservation for the concert a four-day 75000-fan extravaganza that began Thursday The stage is at right They tested out the a sort of vertical hammock and didgeridoos a kind of primitive clarinet And in addition to the authorized dealers of T-shirts unusual headgear and fruit smoothies free-lancers offered shots of whiskey at three bucks cheaper than sodas from legit vendors At a row of facades called the Delta crowds gathered Thursday morning to see various side shows such as a couple with performing cats and dogs whole subeconomy devel BY JOAQUIM UTSET El Nuevo Herald The Miami Police have reopened their investigation of a Christmas Eve incident outside the Little Havana home of Elian relatives during which a movements aroused suspicion Melchor Casals and his son Hamlet whose Ford Aerostar trailed an automobile carrying the 6-year-old Cuban boy and at one time blocked its path were interviewed at their home Wednesday by two police investigators When first questioned Dec 24 Melchor Casals told police that he was driving Argentine television reporter Ernesto Bravo covering the case of Elian who is the subject of a custody dispute between his father in Cuba and his family in Miami On Thursday police said they believe that US-born Cuban filmmaker Estela Bravo was in Miami with her husband last week seems his wife was in the country but they already said Lt Bill Schwartz a Miami Police spokesman And the Argentine television station cited by Casals Channel 13 in Buenos Aires said it had no connection with Ernesto Bravo Ernesto Bravo not covering the story for said Ricardo Pinino manager of Te-leNoticias the agency that produces Channel newscasts TeleNoticias is getting its news about Elian from international news services Pinino said Melchor Casals a well-known filmmaker in Cuba moved to Miami 18 months ago He said he was unaware that Bravo had misled him and that he drove him to the Gonzalez home as a professional courtesy the kind of thing filmmakers do for each said Hamlet Casals whose company Bright Moon Entertainment co-produced Cuban singer Rosita appearance Nov 20 in Miami Beach The two Casals denied they had ulterior purposes when they drove past the Gonzalez home They also rejected allegations that they drove away hastily when confronted by the Gonzalezes going through a red traffic light in the process did not flee as has been stated and did nothing Melchor Casals said He re fused to speak to reporters af- ter police investigators left his home What brought Ernesto Bravo to Miami may have been the production of a documentary about Elian according to an interview with wife Estela that appeared recently in the Cuban magazine Bohemia on the occasion of the Latin American New-Film Festival in Havana In the article Estela Bravo said she favored returning Elian to Cuba and did not rule out the possibility of doing a documentary on the young plight According to sources Estela Bravo is preparing a documentary about Operation Pedro Pan the airlift of thousands of Cuban children to the United States in the 1960s At the Havana film festival Estela Bravo showed the pro-Castro documentary Fidel which she made for Channel 4 is a filmmaker officially recognized by the said Sergio Giral a Cuban film producer who lives in Miami speaking her works support the revolutionary In another development Thursday the New York-based National Council of the Churches of Christ announced it will send two representatives to Cardenas Cuba to meet with father and other relatives Monday The following day the two officials the Rev Dr Joan Brown Campbell and the Rev Oscar Bolioli will meet in Havana with Vicki Huddleston head of the US Interests Section and Ricardo Alarcon president of the Cuban National Assembly The declared purpose is to have Elian returned quickly to his Campbell said are best served when they are with their parents and all indications are that this is a good loving father Those who say Elian should stay in the United States because way of life is better1 ignore the meaning of fami- The White House has been notified of this effort the council said Herald translator Renato Perez and El Nuevo Herald staff writer Wilfredo Cancio Isla contributed to this report Everglades I National I Park I Homestead Vg 1 LI Florida-! HomostoaiM Mr Fore las ning to hit its stride Phishville became a high-spirited city of hustle and bustle with tens of thousands of almost exclusively young and white North Americans settled into campsites to make their way toward the end of the 1990s They filled the streets of this hippie version of Mayberry visiting the general store the numerous food vendors the kiosks where wares of every stripe could be had (at slightly above retail) dislikes airport plan cerns quiet in recent months while the United States Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration conducted the environmental impact statement the results of which were made public by The Herald Thursday Copies of the report are currently being mailed to interested observers The proposed airport is a hot issue because it has the potential to dramatically affect South Miami-Dade which is still recovering from the businesses and population lost in the after-math of Hurricane Andrew ECONOMIC BOOST The supporters including Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas and Homestead mayor Steve Shiver say the proposal by a private company Homestead Air Base Developers Inc (HABDI) would create thousands of jobs and put millions of dollars in the pockets of South Miami-Dade residents Opponents say the airport and the resulting residential and commercial development would spoil a largely rural area and harm Biscayne National Park which is two miles east of the airport site and Everglades National Park which is 10 miles to the west The Everglades National Park superintendent was out of town Thursday and be reached for comment The Homestead Air Force Base shut down after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 but the Air Force Reserve continues to use a portion of the former air VICTIMS Park official Homestead BY TYLER BRIDGES tbndgesheraldcom A proposed commercial airport for Homestead would cause an unacceptable amount of noise and water pollution for Biscayne National Park the park superintendent said Thursday a day after a federal report said the airport was not likely to have a significant harmful impact Superintendent Dick Frost said that if the proposed airport were built the 500000 people who visit the park in South Dade each year expecting to find a tranquil spot to fish or observe birds would instead find numerous airplanes flying overhead and murkier water from chemical runoff Frost said the noise and water pollution would violate the fundamental purpose of a national park supposed to experience the park unaltered by said Frost superintendent of the park since 1993 The park which is 28 miles in length and 14 miles wide is the last remaining stretch of the unique natural coastline between Miami and the Keys which features coral reefs mangroves and wetlands Frost and others in the National Park Service have long had concerns about a proposed plan endorsed by Miami-Dade County commissioners to transform the one-time Homestead Air Force Base into a commercial airport for charter planes commuter flights and cargo planes But Frost had kept his con ops in the lots where you can buy said John Billingsley a sound engineer from the East Village Why go to so much trouble to spend the biggest weekend of the year in a swamp? Just ask Chris Bertolet 31 of Los Angeles asks why people travel across the country to see a World Series or a Billy Graham crusade Anything that impassions people that much ought to be Biscayne National Park Elliott i Key a 5 fiat JERE WARREN HERALD STAFF the impact to the dismay of Frost Frost said the extra flights would disturb fish and wildlife as well as bother visitors A lawyer with the New York City-based Natural Resources Defense Council said Wednesday that the group might sue to block the airport on the noise issue grounds Frost also said that airplane fuel would wash off the runway and make its way toward Biscayne National Park The federal report says a stormwater treatment system would prevent pollutants from entering the park But Frost said the farmland that serves as an important natural buffer between the airport site and the national park would likely be paved over as the area around the airport is developed bullets The Coast Guard has assigned two patrol boats to waterways About 20 agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will be on duty is not a substitute for Schwartz said caught discharging a gun will spend New in At a news conference Thursday local officials issued warnings about dangerous behavior and about falling bullets that travel at 400 feet per second goes up must come Miami-Dade Commissioner Barbara Carey-Shuler said need to worry about Y2K we need to worry about In 1996 gunfire in Liberty City was likened to a Vietnam battle scene Thousands of bullet casings littered the streets Three people including policeman Ricky Taylor were wounded Celebratory shootings were reportedly down after New Eve of 1997 when no one was reported hurt But three injuries last year proved the tradition survives Meteorologist takes special assignment Stay inside to avoid stray rL-j rN I MLD123199 base as does the Florida Air National Guard and the United States Customs Service Their operations will almost certainly continue no matter what happens to the portion of the old air base that the Air Force wants to give away Frost said he can hear military and government aircraft flying over Biscayne National Park about six times a day MORE FLIGHTS The new federal report says the number of flights would increase with development of a commercial airport could disturb and annoy some visitors and would make it more difficult for the park to accomplish its goals of improving and preserving a more natural the report says But it downplays many to be South most raucous party spot 75 percent of the police force will be on duty for a 12-hour shift The Miami-Dade Police Department has assigned 58 officers to work in Miami Beach BY KEVIN BAXTER kbaxterheraldcom WFORCBS4 chief meteorologist Bryan Norcross a comforting presence for South Florida viewers during Hurricane Andrew will give up his regular on-air duties at the station to NORCROSS concentrate on special assignments and outside projects WFOR announced Thursday Norcross 49 last year signed a four-year WFOR contract with an escape clause after 12 months In September he told Steve Mauldin vice president and general manager that he wanted to exercise that option this winter to pursue Internet-related projects But he will continue to handle special assignments for CBS and WFOR for whom he will remain on the payroll as a a long-term idea and I just feel the right time to explore Norcross said by phone from New York where he waited to catch a flight home after a weeklong vacation really has nothing to do with anything except the fact that a world full of opportunity out there a rare opportunity and appropriate for me to take advan The following deaths and injuries were blamed on celebratory gunfire on New Eve: 1991: Damian Campbell 13 shot while walking down a Southwest Dade street The stray bullet fractured his collarbone and pierced a lung Hospitalized for 12 days 1992: Maria Fernandez a Hialeah grandmother shot and killed in her living room by a stray bullet 1993: Alexis Hernandez 36 participating In random gunfire near his apartment at 890 SW 129th Place shot and killed by a stray bullet from another gun 1994: Alberto Perez Jr 6 was hospitalized after being struck in the head by a stray bullet near Northwest 35th Street and 20th Avenue 1996: Miami police Officer Ricky Taylor shot in the head while sitting in his squad car in the 1300 block of Northwest 61st Street Returned to work in months but soon retired 1998: Three injured by gunplay: a 15-year-old boy shot in the face outside his North Dade home a 19-year-old Kendall woman struck in the leg while on her front porch a Redland man who accidentally shot himself in the arm tage of Norcross is beginning work on a hurricane special to air in early June and will remain in his job through the February ratings sweeps period After that however the changing weather patterns will dictate how much air time get will still be very much a part of said news director Shannon High Viewers still see him very much during hurricane season be here for the community when they need him of that they see him like they do Norcross earned a national reputation for his reporting on Hurricane Andrew for NBC affiliate WTVJ-TV where he remained on the air offering advice and comfort for 23 consecutive hours during the worst of the storm He was widely credited with saving lives and his story was retold in the 1993 made-for-television movie Triumph Over Disaster: The Hurricane Andrew Story Bob Soper will replace Norcross as the regular weather reporter during its weeknight 5 6 and 11 pm newscasts beginning March I Soper will be aided by meteorologist Craig Setzer currently at WFLA in Tampa and Jennifer Santiago of KWBA-TV in Tucson who will join weather team in the next month BY ANABELLE de GALE adegaleheraldcom The message from Miami-Dade officials is the same this New Eve: Stay inside Concerned that random gunfire will again mar the holiday police on Thursday issued their annual warning to stay indoors especially a few minutes before and after midnight Over the last decade two were killed and six were injured by mishaps connected to celebratory gunfire year we take a deep breath and hope for the Miami Police Lt William Schwartz said year taking a deeper breath because the millennium That means more people than usual on the streets and more possibilities for The 2000 hype is not the only reason police are worried South Florida gun sales have risen in recent months Schwartz said these people getting ready for Armageddon or perhaps planning on Schwartz said just know so a major Thousands of police officers will be on patrol For the few moments around midnight many will briefly take cover But police said foolish gunfire will not be taken lightly Beginning at 7 tonight in Miami Beach predicted by.