Consultant Claims Thousands of Gallons of Fuel Unaccounted
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THREE DAYS A WEEK POST COMMENTS AT CAPE-CORAL-DAILY-BREEZE.COM Bulldogs CAPE CORAL bounced Ida Baker falls to visiting American Heritage, 8-0 BREEZE — SPORTS EARLY-WEEK EDITION WEATHER: Partly Cloudy • Tonight: Mostly Clear • Wednesday: Scattered Showers — 2A cape-coral-daily-breeze.com Vol. 49, No. 137 Tuesday, November 16, 2010 50 cents Mayor backs off plan for Ten Commandments display Supreme Court. “It was a matter of common Commandments in city hall. Proposal gains little support from council Sullivan said Monday there sense, of getting back to core val- “If it comes to a vote, I cannot By DREW WINCHESTER Last week Sullivan concurred have been court cases to both sup- ues,” Sullivan said. support erecting the Ten [email protected] with resident Dick Kalfus that the port and deny the display of the Councilmember Pete Brandt Commandments,” Brandt said. Mayor John Sullivan likely Ten Commandments would help Ten Commandments in public said he was a “constitutional con- Councilmember Chris won’t move forward with a pro- to provide a “moral blueprint” for buildings. He maintained that dis- servative,” and that the United Chulakes-Leetz said those same posal to display the Ten the city to move forward with. playing the commandments States was founded on “Judeo- Judeo-Christian values the United Commandments in city hall after Kalfus came up with the idea fol- would not support a individual Christian morals and ethics.” States was based on also led to the he gained little support from the lowing a trip to Washington, religious ideology but path for the Despite his affinity for both systematic destruction of the dais at Monday’s city council D.C., where he saw the com- city to follow to economic recov- the constitution and those values, meeting. mandments displayed in the U.S. ery. he didn’t support hanging the Ten See MAYOR, page 6A Consultant claims thousands of gallons of fuel unaccounted for Topsy- Towler likely to get contract renewal turvy By DREW WINCHESTER eyes that we need to fix this prob- [email protected] lem, but it is not a reflection on Jackie Mayne A consultant hired by City staff members,” Towler said. and her son Manager Gary King to examine Towler's report states that no the city's fleet claims that thou- system is being utilized by the Austin, 8, city to prevent unauthorized use scream on sands of gallons of fuel cannot be accounted for. or theft of fuel. the Power A report dated Nov. 13 and Towler said the system was Surge ride filed by Bill Towler — King's monitored prior to 2007. Since at Cape consultant — says that gasoline then, there is no way to monitor Coral’s consumption doubled in the last who is using fuel, or how much Coconut five years despite a reduction in they are taking. He added that Festival, fleet and staff size during that he's found evidence of numbers Saturday. same time period. being manipulated in “the sys- More photos While not accusing employees tem.” of outright fuel theft, Towler did “Someone went into the sys- are available tem ...and manually overwrote online at: say during a presentation to city council on Monday that an that data, to manipulate the sys- cu.cape-coral- absence of checks and balances to tem,” Towler said. “Someone is daily- monitor fuel consumption has trying to change the system, the breeze.com. placed the city in a bad situation. “I'm trying to open everyone's See CONSULTANT, page 6A MICHAEL PISTELLA Statute of limitations on possible UEP lawsuits set to expire By DREW WINCHESTER resented,” he said. [email protected] The shade meeting has been Councilmember Chris set to discuss the mediated settle- Chulakes-Leetz wants citizens to ment for both Deile and Sullivan, Three new school board know that a statute of limitations and a third man named Robert on possible UEP lawsuits is set to Sylvester. Deile and Sullivan expire. sued the city prior to becoming Chulakes-Leetz said a shade elected officials for what they felt members to be sworn in today meeting to discuss a lawsuit that was an unfair assessment method- involves Councilmember Bill ology during the utilities expan- Armstrong, Fischer and Scott say they are ready to get to work Deile and Mayor John Sullivan sion project. was moved from Dec. 6 to Dec. A mediated settlement filed By MEGHAN McCOY also be elected today at the begin- “I’m ready to get started,” he 15 by the city attorney’s office so with the 20th Judicial Circuit of [email protected] ning of the action meeting, which said. those limitations could fade Florida says that Deile would Three new Lee County School begins at 6 p.m. Fischer shared her excitement away. receive $5,000, $1,500 of which Board members will be sworn in “I’m thrilled to get started,” about being sworn in during the He said the city attorney’s would be donated to the city’s before they officially take their Armstrong said, so he can begin board meeting. office was “purposely trying to Charter School System’s seats during the regular board resolving a lot of the issues that “I am very excited about it and take away the rights” of Cape Scholarship Fund; and Sullivan action meeting tonight. the district has run into over the honored that the Honorable Coral citizens. would receive $1, which would Newly elected board members past few years. “I’m excited to Josephine Gagliardi will be Chulakes-Leetz added that the be donated to the American Don Armstrong, Mary Fischer bring some type of balance into swearing all of us in,” Fischer “clock was ticking” for residents Cancer Society. and Thomas Scott will be sworn the school district.” said. who feel they may have been Sylvester would receive the in at 5:30 p.m. in the school board Scott said he is glad to finally Armstrong is looking forward assessed improperly, and suits same deal as Deile. meeting room by the Honorable get at the issues at hand because to rolling up his sleeves, so he can must be filed by Dec. 6. The settlement must be either Josephine Gagliardi. A new board they have all been campaigning “I was very concerned the citi- chairman and vice chairman will for the better part of the year. See THREE, page 6A zens were not being properly rep- See EXPIRE, page 6A ‘Operation Medicine Cabinet’ deemed a success By TIFFANY REPECKI tions. Under an anonymous, no- reported that there were 57,174 tions from falling into children’s Wal-Mart, they accepted fentanyl [email protected] questions-asked policy, people pills collected, 50 liquids and hands and off of the streets. patches used in cancer treatment, More than 57,000 pills, along dropped off pills, to liquid and 107 creams. There were 500 Everything collected was Oxycontin, and opiates and nar- with other items, were turned cream medications, to syringes, patches dropped off, 598 inhalers brought to the LCSO Evidence cotics from people whose spouses over to local authorities Saturday patches and inhalers. and 44 powders, as well as 70 Facility for incineration. had been in hospice treatment. during Operation Medicine “We’ll take whatever they syringes collected. Deborah Comella, executive One man dropped off a bag of Cabinet. bring,” Sgt. Karl Albenga, of the The goal of the operation was director of the coalition, was pres- unused morphine syringes that his The Lee County Sheriff’s LCSO Narcotics Unit, said. two-fold. It first made sure the ent at the Cape drop-off. wife had needed prior to passing Office and Lee County Coalition The drop-off locations were medications were properly dis- “Whatever is it, we’ve gotten away. for a Drug-Free Southwest the Wal-Mart on Del Prado posed of, rather than tossed in the it,” she said. “It’s been very In some instances, people Florida partnered together to col- Boulevard South, a Winn-Dixie trash or flushed down a drain into steady the whole time.” handed over prescriptions well lect unused, unwanted and in Lehigh Acres and the Coconut the water supply. According to Comella and expired medications at three loca- Point Mall in Estero. Albenga Secondly, it kept the medica- Albenga, who also was at the See SUCCESS, page 3A ATAGLANCE AROUND THE AREA NEWS OF NOTE WHAT’S INSIDE Shell Point model train Palmetto-Pine to host Annie’s Mailbox......9A Horoscopes......9A room attraction now open Wounded Warriors tourney The Gulf Coast Model Railroad at Shell Palmetto-Pine Country Club in Cape Cape Life............7A Obituaries..........3A CASH 3: Point Retirement Community is now open Coral is inviting the public to come out and Classifieds.............1-4B Police Blotter......2A 4-6-6 / 5-8-1 for tours. Last year thousands of visitors support its Wounded Warriors by either toured the train room, and this year many playing or sponsoring in the golf tourna- Comics.............11A Sports.........12-13A PLAY 4: 7-6-7-4 / 3-0-9-7 new upgrades have been added. ment to be held Saturday, Dec. 4. Net pro- Community.........8A Tides................2A Fantasy 5 Visitors from are welcome to stop by and ceeds will benefit the men and women who Crossword........11A TV Listings............10A 11-14-19-26-28 see this 40-foot by 40-foot model train dis- have been injured while serving our coun- Lotto play in the shape of the state of Florida. try in the armed services. Dr. Donohue......9A Weather..............2A 8-20-25-28-42-44 Up to nine trains run around the nearly The format is a four-person scramble Editorial...........4-5A Web Poll.............5A x 5 1,000 feet of track, and on about 100 with a maximum of bogey per hole.