fD 0 0 THE TAMPA TRIBUNE uu Monday, December 30, 1985 Section ot issues facing County Commission (0 By TOM INGLIS Tribune Staff Writer Steve Otto An election, corruption trials, finding a new county administrator and revising the county charter lead the lineup of issues facing the county in the coming year. For Hillsborough County government, 1986 will be a year of "increasing uncertainty," a "superheated political environment" and a period of political "instability," say Hillsborough County officials. Seldom have so many converging pressures hit the county government in the same period as they will during 1986. Consider the factors: A majority of the seats on the County Commission will be up for grabs. Commissioners Jan Piatt, Rodney Colson, Ron Glickman and Rubin Padgett are expected to seek re-election.
In the special election last May, 32 candidates battled for five seats. Another heated campaign is expected in 1986. A revision of the county charter, which serves as the county's constitution, is in the works. A committee of 14 citizens, appointed by the commission, already has started work. A major restructuring could be forthcoming.
Hillsborough County Administrator Norman Hickey has resigned his job and will taking a new position in San Diego. The commission will be selecting a new administrator during an election year and during a period in which the entire structure of government could be changed. The corruption trials of three former county commissioners, five well-known Tampa lawyers, and 22 other individuals and corporations will be taking place beginning in early spring and extending through most of the election campaign period. Evidence revealed during this trial is certain to have a political impact on local government. See COUNTY, Page 6B County Administrator Norman Hickey expects some "superheated" politics.
Commission Chairman Rodney Colson anticipates a "hectic year with many pressures' i ass transit yjuaz A A light alternatiwe 3 A consultant has said that the three commuter I jr corridors to downtown Tampa that might 'Jr support a light rail system the modern-day jt tY version of the trolley car are along Dale wl Mabry Highway I i Jp from Carrollwood, Carrollwood Fletcher Ave. h'rS -along 1-275 from 1 I vflfil 1 Lutz and along 5 Fowier Ave Ul A state Road 60 I 55 LJ-r-ltr-y from Brandon. rf Hillsborough Ave. VjJ jrr-'fmwmrmm- wn wm 7 I Seffner .1 Buffalo Ave I i 7 a Dover I XT 14 LTampa I Mango s' I-275X I Valrico Brandon yi Wn 1 s.r.60 A MadisonAve. Tt Bloomingdale Ave.
Vb I Riverview v. f' Hillsborough I JLJ v' --xXJ Bty I Alafi3 River I iCx-v MacDill LeT Aiafia Base Gjbsonton I could unclog traffic jams Planners foresee a Hillsborough County jammed with highways if alternatives aren't implemented. By JOHN DUNN Tribune Staff Writer Those who peer into the crystal ball to see how people in Hillsborough County will travel in the future can spot two scenarios. One is a labyrinth of asphalt highways some bulging with as many as 16 lanes that conjures up images of a smog-choked Los Angeles. The second is a much less intricate road network, complimented by the marvels of mass transit clean, efficient buses running with unerring regularity and a modern light rail system ot trains to carry commuters along heavily traveled corridors.
"Hillsborough County is maturing as a metropolitan area and is approaching that crossroad of whether it wants to look like Los Angeles or develop a more balanced transportation system," said Joseph Kubicki, staff administrator for the Metropolitan Planning Organization, a panel of elected officials that discusses transportation needs. "Hillsborough County is at that point right now where traffic on Dale Mabry and 1-275 is showing we just cannot continue to add lanes of highway," he said. County transportation planners now are trying to figure out how to alter the habits of commuters, to get See ROADS, Page 3B Some characters earned a place in the memory Before pressing on to next year, bear with me for a minute or two for a brief look back at some of the wonderful characters who passed my way through this column in 1985. It's funny how you associate people you've known only briefly with the surroundings that you met them in even if those surroundings have little to do with the character of the people at all. Take George King.
I really don't know George well at all, other than we sat at a long table for an oyster-eating contest to benefit the Suicide and Crisis Center. George stands out, not only because he raised thousands of dollars in pledges at the phone company where he works, but that he did it all despite hating oysters. Here was a guy who turned green at the thought of the slimy rascals, yet forced down one after another because so much money was at stake for a cause he believed in. 4 Doyle E. Carlton Jr.
was nearly governor of the state of Florida. He should have been. Today he sits on lots of boards, runs the Florida State Fair and owns thousands of acres of cattle land. But it was riding with Carlton in his Ford pickup truck on the outskirts of Wauchula that gave me the opportunity to get to know a little of this very complex and dedicated man. I hope he remembers he promised to invite me back out for some of his wife Mildred's guava cobbler.
I met Morris Hintzman in the bitter cold of last January. He was down in front of Curtis Hixon Convention Center talking to a police officer, two winos and a television reporter at the same time. He had worked with the city to get the convention center opened as a shelter for the homeless during the freeze. Hinztman is the director of Metropolitan Ministries. He grew up on a small Wisconsin farm, knew what it was like to suffer, and has turned the Metropolitan Ministries program into a positive and growing organization.
Their new Family Center is off the planning boards and construction is under way. Emmett Garcia called me up on a summer's day to come see his giant sunflowers out in Port Tampa. We spent the afternoon wandering through his garage full of memories, covering a life that went from the cigar factories to a career crossing the oceans in the Merchant Marine. With a garage like Emmett's you wouldn't need a television set. I went out to talk to Paul McDuffie about lousy hospitals.
Instead I saw a painting on his wall of the "Shoo Shoo Baby" and heard the wondrous tale of the exploits of this legendary B-17 bomber that McDuffie piloted in World War II. fc For those of us who were not around during those incredible years, people like McDuffie loom as extraordinary individuals in an extraordinary time that must not be forgotten. Yvonne Freeman waitressed at the old Goody Goody drive-in restaurant for 25 years. When it closed she fiddled around for a few months and then leased the old restaurant for herself. After weeks of scrubbing the floors and walls with Lorene Green, another long-time waitress, the Goody Goody reopened this year with its cozy service and great coconut cream pie intact.
"I'll never get rich here," said Yvonne the other day, "but I'll be happy." There were many others but the name I'll probably remember most was Gretchen Lee Sage. I never met Gretchen, who died this month in an accident at the age of 15, but I felt her influence. It came in the faces of her friends and in the letters I received, not only from her friends but from their parents, who saw Gretchen as a role model. It was in the coming together of hundreds of 'young people, caught up not only in the pain of her loss, but in the spirit that she lived, that I got to know Gretchen and that I will never forget. Anyway, those were some of the faces that come to mind, and I hope your 1985 was as full of good memories as was mine.
Tribune map Who needs snow? There isn't any snow in the area, but 3-year-old Amir Brown still tries to do some sledding, left', on a piece of cardboard. The abrupt end to his downhill ride at the University of South Florida didn't deter him from trying again. 5 1 7 Tribune photos by DAN McDUFFIE 1 Inside Tampa man charged with murder arrested in Kentucky Crimes alleged Rooming house manager Gary Lee Crockett, 39, was arrested in his aunt's apartment Sunday after a tip from Tampa police. By KIM KLEMAN Tribune Staff Writer A Tampa rooming house manager was arrested Sunday in Lexington, in connection with the stabbing death of one of his tenants last week, police said. The suspect, 39-year-old Gary Lee Crockett, was charged by Tampa police with first-degree murder in the killing of Benny R.
Brown, who lived with Crockett in a white, one-story boarding house at 2302 Morgan St. Sunday, the suspect was being held without bond at the Fayette County Detention Center in Lexington on charges of being a fugitive from Florida in connection with the clothing and personal possessions, Bryant said. Also, Bryant said Childers questioned the suspect for several hours following the arrest. Bryant would not disclose what the suspect said during questioning. Also, police have not disclosed a motive in the killing.
Childers was flying back to Tampa late Sunday and could not be reached for comment Brown, the murder victim, was found stabbed to death in a bloody bed at the boarding house late Dec. 22. "There vere three obvious stab wounds in the chest area when we arrived," Tampa police Lt. Sam Jones said of the victim, in his late 30s. A neighbor, Odell Williams, told the Tribune last week that she had been looking for Brown all day that Sunday and found him dead in his room that night.
Sunday, friends said they still mourned for Brown, who lived in the area for about a year, said neighbor Ezell Green. "We were friends," Green said, remembering the many times he and Brown would meet on Morgan Street to talk. Crockett apparently lived in Lexington before moving to Tampa several months ago, Bryant said. The suspect will be arraigned today at 9 a.m. at Fayette District Court, Lexington police said.
7 Investigators say Miami police officers were part of an organization called "The Enterprise." Corrections Carmelina DiGaetano died in a fire in her West Tampa home Friday. Her name was listed incorrectly in Saturday's Tribune. 4. Charles F. Miller Sr.
died in a fire Saturday at his Tampa home. His name was listed incorrectly in Sunday's Tribune. the tip in a telephone interview. He said police confirmed Crockett's whereabouts over the weekend through a stroke of good luck: A Lexington police officer owns the apartment building where Crockett stayed and provided information. "I arrested him," Bryant said of the suspect.
"He offered no resistance." Police searched the Lexington apartment on a warrant for crime scene evidence and seized Crockett's Tampa murder charge, which was filed last week in a warrant, officials said. Crockett was arrested at his aunt's apartment in Lexington at 12:25 p.m. Sunday after Tampa police gave Kentucky detectives a tip and after Tampa police Detective Rick Childers flew to the scene to help in the arrest, said Lexinton police Detective John Bryant. "I learned Thursday that he might be in the area," Bryant said of.
