Florida Today from Cocoa, Florida • Page 22

i4 Hi 4 I STATE NEWS INSIDE Mayo Clinic Jacksonville to research Alzheimer's disease, 4B. Man, woman acquitted of first-degree murder in beating, sexually assault on 2-year-old, 9B. LOCAL HEWS INSIDE Personnel director trades Palm Bay job for Melbourne post, 1 B. Public utilities for drainage could help protect Indian River Lagoon, 1B. 1 Former Scout leader charged in rape Liter is a house painter but is not regularly employed, Lattimer said.

Bowman, of the Boy Scouts' council, said, "One day I'm sitting here working on an award of merit for a litle boy from Navarre that jacked up a car and pulled his brother out, and the next day I'm dealing with this." The Liter investigation began Jan. 23 after two anonymous telephone calls, one to the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services and the other to Crimestoppers, Lattimer said. "He gave us his time, his efforts, money. That this dark side surfaced in our troop is just beyond comprehension." Lattimer said he has interviewed about 40 of the troop's 60 members, who range in age from 8 to 18, and plans to talk to all the boys. The incidents have taken place for at least 11 years, Lattimer said.

Some of incidents occurred on camping trips and others at the suspect's home, he said. lewd and lascivious assault on a child and three charges of sexual activity with a child. Liter registered as a Scout leader at St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church in 1987, said Jerry Bowman, who heads the Boy Scouts' 11-county Gulf Coast Council. Parents of troop members said they were stunned by the allegations against the tireless scoutmaster.

"David is an incredibly nice person," said Patricia Cotton. County Sheriffs Department Investigator Larry Lattimer. Lattimer said one troop member, "about 12," and another, "about 16," were sexually abused. He said a third alleged victim is in his late 20s and reported abuse that occurred in 1977 in a Scout setting but before Liter became a leader. Liter was being held in the Escambia County Jail Friday night in lieu of $150,000 bond.

Liter also faces two charges of By Ginny Graybiel FLORIDA TODAY PENSACOLA Five additional charges, including two rape charges, were filed Friday against a former Boy Scout leader already accused of raping a troop member. David Charles Liter, 34, jailed Wednesday, was charged with raping a second troop member within the past two years and with raping a third Scout 11 years ago, according to Escambia Tampa greets pirates with party 1 KpKw' 9 Cities tell state to pay for changes Associated Press TALLAHASSEE Legislators must be stopped from handing down unfunded mandates to local governments, some 500 city officials agreed unanimously Friday. "It was officially set as the No. 1 priority of 1989," said Mike Sittig, assistant executive director of the Florida League of Cities. The league decided in October to start a petition drive to get a constitutional amendment before the voters requiring the state to pay for services it orders local governments to provide.

Local officials also are going to apply pressure on state lawmakers to put the measure on the ballot. A law written a decade ago that forbids the practice has been ignored by legislators, according to Sittig, who said that 225 mandates have been handed down to local governments since 1980. "Now we're saying, if you've got a state priority, you fund it," he said. Last month, the cities and the Florida Association of Counties filed a lawsuit challenging a 1988 law that requires them to increase the pension benefits of some law enforcement officers and firefighters. Local officials want more flexibility in raising revenue.

Specifically, they want to be able to levy an optional 1-cent sales tax without putting the issue before the voters. Local officials also want to be able to spend the money, which is split between counties and cities, on something other than infrastructure projects such as roads, buildings and water and sewer lines. Only a handful of Florida's 67 counties have gotten approval for the tax, which the 1987 Legislature approved. Other legislative priorities established by the league include authority to annex enclaves, permission for city commissioners to meet privately with city attorneys to discuss litigation matters only a proposal vetoed by Gov. Bob Martinez last year and state assistance in coming up with a solution to stormwater runoff, which is polluting the surface water of lakes and streams throughout the state.

By Deborah Sharp FLORIDA TODAY TAMPA Pirates are steaming toward Tampa, and they aren't Pittsburgh athletes. Their "navy" is comprised of 750 swashbucklers who today intend to mark the city's 85th Annual Gasparilla Day via a mock invasion that ends with the year's biggest parade and street party. When the pirate ship sails into Tampa harbor, cannons booming and skull-and-cross-bones flying, Mayor Sandy Freedman is expected to surrender. Faced with walking the plank or handing the cutthroats the keys to the city, no Tampa mayor has yet chosen the plunge. This year, for the first time, area tourism officials have concentrated on spreading word of the Gasparilla festival outside Tampa and surrounding Hillsborough County.

A $100,000 promotional campaign targeted more than 100 radio stations throughout Florida, according to Woody Peck of the Tampa-Hillsbo-rough County Convention and Visitors Association. Gasparilla organizers are expecting some 750,000 spectators and participants. Named for a legendary 19th century pirate, Gasparilla has evolved from a one-day affair into a monthlong festival. In the weeks following Saturday's invasion, Tampa will host events as varied as an art show, a Latin street fair, and a runners' road race. "Gasparilla is a huge selling point for us," said Mary Lou Janson, public relations See TAMPA, 9B SATURDAY, Feb.

4, 1989 10B Funeral director out of prison FLORIDA TODAY Wires JACKSONVILLE A former mortician who mishandled 45 bodies over a 10-year period has been released from prison after serving 2l2 months of a one-year sentence, officials said. Lewis Howell, 54, former operator of the Howell Morning Glory Chapel was released Thursday from Lawtey Correctional Center. He pleased guilty in November to three counts of felony grand theft for accepting money for funerals he never carried out. Howell was forced to surrender his funeral director's license. Truck hits LOTTO winner FERNANDINA BEACH A 53-year-old man who split a $9.5 million LOTTO prize with his cousin Jan.

21 was recovering from severe head injuries Friday after stepping into the path of a pickup truck, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Robert Lee Waters of High Springs was trying to cross a state highway in North Florida town at 11:20 p.m. Wednesday when he was struck by a pickup truck driven by Timothy Whitefield, 18, of Jacksonville, according to FHP Duty officer Michael Raffaelly. Waters was listed in critical but stable condition Friday night. Raffaelly said the accident was alcohol-related and no charges had been filed.

Robert Lee Waters and Roy Waters of Lake Butler, were holders of a LOTTO ticket which was one of two that won a total of $9.5 million. "The cousins won $4.76 million to be paid over 20 "years. Clark execution stay stands WASHINGTON The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday refused to lift a stay granted to a man condemned for the 1977 murder of a St. Petersburg businessman.

Raymond Robert Clark has now survived four death warrants. Clark, 47, had been scheduled for execution this past Wednesday, but the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta granted him a stay Friday. City worker dies in machine I DEFUNIAK SPRINGS A municipal worker was killed when he fell or was pulled into a wood-chipping machine, authorities said. Ginger Lee Wood, 56, died Thursday morning, said chief police investigator Don Taylor.

Taylor said his hand or glove may have become caught in the chipper's teeth as he was loading it with tree limbs. But Public Works Director Aubrey McDonald said he thought Woods, who had heart trouble, may have had a heart attack and fallen into the machine. Kidnapped baby not epileptic MIAMI After a 9-month-old baby was returned safely to his parents Thursday, the father admitted the child was not in need of medication, as had been reported. Luis Cruz snatched from his home 17 hours earlier by two men posing as workers, was in good health. Earlier, family members had said the child was epileptic and needed medication twice a day.

The boy's father, Dr. Luiz Cruz told a TV reporter that they had made up the epilepsy condition in hopes of encouraging them to return the child quickly. Three men were arrested within hours of the child's release. Former Time publisher dies CLEARWATER Pierrepont I. "Perry" Prentice, the publisher of Time Magazine during World War Two, died Thursday after a long bout with strokes and other illnesses.

He was 89. Prentice, a resident of Belleair, was also one of the nation's leading authorities on property tax. He frequently spoke and wrote on the subject, which he said fascinated him since he was editor and publisher of House and Home magazine. He is survived by his wife, Janet McNeir; two daughters, Barbara Kulish of Pendleton, S.C., and Carolyn Falise of New York, N.Y.; and three granddaughters. Former GOP chief fined $5,000 JACKSONVILLE Bill Taylor, a Republican National committeeman and former state party chairman, has been fined $5,000 after pleading no contest to a conflict-of-interest charge in connection with his work as a lobbyist for Jacksonville.

Taylor, 65, will be unable to do any more lobbying for the city and agreed not to attempt collect any money he says the city owes him, according to his plea agreement. A second charge against Taylor, a municipal ordinance charging him with failing to register as a lobbyist, was dropped. Shawn Spence, FLORIDA TODAY DRESS REHEARSAL: Distributor Donald Henning shows official Gasparilla Day pirate regalia to be worn today by Tampans businessmen and elite for invasion. Florida's homeless estimated as high as 20,000 Associated Press among families and what we call the 'new study coordinator Bill Hanson said. HRS is to make recommendations to the Legislature in June on ways to address the problem.

State funding for the homeless has increased from nothing in 1986 to $5.1 million last year. The federal government since 1987 also has tunneled $24 million into state, local and private organizations that deal with the problem. state's homeless were families. That group now makes up 35 percent to 40 percent of all homeless, the study found. Half the families are headed by single parents.

The "new homeless" are on the street because of money problems rather than preference or indifference. They constitute 60 percent of total group, Hanson said. In 1985, they were thought to make up less than half the total. homeless increase on poor wages for unskilled workers; a shortage of affordable, suitable housing; family break-ups because of divorce or desertion, or spouse and child abuse; and personal choice. Beth Sackstein, president of the Dade Coalition for the Homeless in Miami, said her organization this year received its first state grant, $14,000.

"We're not satisfied that this is enough," she said. "Homelessness is an overwhelming the number at 10,000 to 14,000. Almost half of the state's homeless are believed to be local people, while about one-third come from other states because of "perceived economic opportunities and warm climate." Thirty-four percent may be mentally ill or addicted to alcohol or drugs, and that dependency probably put them on the streets, the report says. "The two significant areas were the growth in homelessness ORLANDO On any given day, anywhere from 16,000 to 20,000 homeless people are trying to get through another day in Florida, a newly released state study estimates. The ranks of Florida's homeless have increased nearly 60 percent since 1985, according to a report by the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services.

A 1985 study by HRS put In 1985, 30 percent of the The study partly blamed the Interior delays offshore oil leasing West Palm Beach bubbles with romance last month that the waters be reopened to exploration, said U.S. Sen. Bob Graham. Reagan's budget anticipated $500 million from lease sales in previously protected waters off Florida, California and other states, he said. No one has discovered commercial quantities of oil or gas near Florida's west coast, but Wednesday Chevron USA announced that it had discovered a potentially significant amount of natural gas from a test bore 40 miles south of Pensacola.

Chevron and its two partners in the project, Conoco and Murphy Oil USA, said they planned to drill a well at the site this fall. The site is outside the proposed no-drilling zone, according to Rep. Andy Ireland, R-Winter Haven. Associated Press WASHINGTON The U.S. Interior Department's decision to delay an offering of oil and gas leases in federal waters off Florida was praised Friday by one of Gov.

Bob Martinez's top aides. "I think it's all part of the continuing Florida pressure that's been applied," said Brian Ballard, chief of operations to Martinez. The lease auction, originally scheduled for October 1990, now is planned for some time early in 1992. Last September, the department asked for nominations of specific tracts to be offered in the 75-million acre area off the coast of the four states. Florida's 19 congressmen and two senators, meanwhile, asked Bush and Interior Secretary-designate Manuel Lujan that drilling rigs be barred within 42 miles of the state's west coast, from near Apalachicola Bay in the Panhandle through the Florida Keys, including the Islamorada fishing camp where Bush vacations.

Bob Walker, a spokesman for the Interior Department, said Lujan has not seen the letter and needed time to study it The areas requested for protection have been off-limits to oil companies under temporary provisions Congress wrote into the Interior Department's annual budget. However, former President Reagan proposed in his budget an FBI ranking for the highest crime rate among mid-sized cities. "That's very nice," City Manager Ron Schutta said of the romantic label. America's most romantic cities were selected from an analysis of 75 metropolitan areas, based on such factors as the number of sunny days per year, miles of coastline, marriages and divorces per capita and sales figures for flowers, diamonds and champagne. Ironically, the champagne company could not provide the figures for champagne sales.

Associated Press WEST PALM BEACH Flowers, diamonds, champagne and sun help make Palm Beach County the fourth most romantic place in the United States, according to a California champagne bottler. The Korbel company announced Thursday that its computer study ranked the West Palm Beach area just behind San Francisco, Honolulu and Los Angeles. That was far preferable, West Palm Beach officials say, to their other claim to fame 'PERSOMUTlESJFROMARQUUQJlti.