INDEX Arts 4 Leisure SB At Larae 5A Bridae 5C Business 3B Classifieds §C Commentary 1C. 3C Arts Festival Speaking'out Crossword 5C Permits. Deeds 4C Gala and Islanders, Police Beat 2A three-week event organizations Scuba Scoop 4A Weather Watch 4A missed by many address issues 1C Since 1961 Still first on Sanibel and Captiva VOL. 31, NO. 33 TUESDAY, AUG. 18, 1992 .THREE SECTIONS, 32 PAGES 50 CENTS Exxon tanks CROW hires replaced, soil vet, director By Frances Adams clean-up starts Islander staff writer By Michelle Alar Dr. John B. Kubisz was hired last week to be the new Islander staff writer veterinarian "executive director of Care and Rehabilitation Leaky gasoline tanks were lifted from the ground at the of Wildlife (CROW). Kubisz will be on the job in Island Exxon last week, new tanks were installed and a September, as soon as he and his family can relocate to clean-up effort is underway to remove contaminants that Sanibel from Hayward, Wis. seeped into the ground. Marion Sweedler, president of the CROW Board of Leaks were detected when a routine inspection of the Directors, said Kubisz's background seems made to order tanks at the 7-Eleven across the street revealed some con- for CROW. He is a veterinarian with 25 years of experi- tamination, according to Sanibel City Manager Gary ence with all types of wildlife, and has first-hand knowl- Price. Both the 7-Eleven and Island Exxon are located on edge of directing a non-profit corporation that has the Periwinkle Way near Tarpon Bay Road. same goals and aspirations as CROW. Kubisz's annual According to Tony Pellicer, manager of the tank division base salary will be $30,000. of Lee County's Water Resources Department, it was time Kubisz founded and is presently director of Project for the 21-year-old tanks to be replaced anyway. HAWK (Help All Wild Kritters), where the goals are the "The new tanks are fiberglass with a double wall for pro- rehabilitation of sick, injured and orphaned wildlife and the tection," Pellicer said. "The standards are changing and it education of the public as to the plight of wildlife. Most was time to take them out. I would be remiss if I told you of the animals at HAWK are the same ones that he will how long it would take to clean up the site, and there is treat at CROW. He is currently responsible for all HAWK no way to estimate the amount of damage that has been fund-raising efforts, including membership drives, ban- done to the ground because the assessments are not back quets, raffles, personal gifts and foundation grants. He also yet It could take months to find out Please see CROW, page 11A "A typical site in the state of Florida though takes about three to five years to clean up and can cost an average of $200,000 to $250,000," he added. Southern Tank and Pump has been commissioned by the land owners, Francis and Sam Bailey, to remove the tanks. According to Rene Latigo, a representative for the company, about 250-280 tons of contaminated dirt has Fun in the sun also been removed. "We've been to very few places where we have dug out This well-prepared beach-goer has everything tanks and there has not been any contamination, and in she needs for a few hours of relaxing fun in the sun on the Sanibel sand: a comfortable fact we have been places where there has been as much as chair, a good book and a thirst-quenching 1,000 tons of contaminants. This one was relatively a drink. small one, and now we are just waiting to see what the owners want to do with it," he said. The contaminated dirt was found to have traces of gaso- ing. When contaminated soil is land farmed, it is spread line and diesel fuel in it, which Latigo added was not un- out and dried in the sun. The soil is rearranged periodically common. The dirt is now in a pile on the site while the to ensure that the entire amount is baked out. The prob- Baileys shop for the most economical method of treat- lem with that, Latigo said, is very few people have ment. enough land to do that, and regulations only allow Latigo said there are two methods of treatment. One, is amounts of 100 tons or less to be treated in this manner. the method the city of Sanibel chose when they were in Secondly, the soil can be sent to a plant that has an the same situation not log ago, which is called land farm- Please see EXXON, page 3A Work legally resumes at shell museum By Frances Adams developed, and to construct an osprey platform to provide Islander staff writer a nesting area for ospreys that will be displaced by the After more than a week of sitting idle while paperwork removal of a pine tree. wended its way through the proper city channels, work has The museum also was issued a development permit to resumed at the site of the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum clear vegetation from the area where the bridge will be on Sanibel-Captiva Road. built. The development permit authorized the use of heavy Last Thursday, Aug. 13, the city lifted the stop-work equipment to de-muck that area, remove the wet soil along order that had been ordered by the city when it was the bridge route, fill the same area with dry fill and, when discovered that unauthorized clearing and filling was being the bridge is built, to remove the new fill and restore the done by heavy machinery. Everything is back in order wetland to its pre-development grade in order for it to be a now. functioning wetland again. The city granted to museum officials a vegetation Only after that work is completed and inspected can the permit to transplant native vegetation from the area to be work to construct the museum itself commence. Dr. John Kubisz and a saw-whet owl, Flash All of the following Information was taken Police received a call on Aug. 16 to report a dead sea directly from Sanlbel Police reports. POLICE turtle on the beach on Middle Gulf Drive. LU Q Robert C. Greer, 19, of Mt. Vernon, NJ. was arrested BEAT Kimberly Anne Phillips of Fort Myers was charged on charges of burglary and petit theft on Monday, Aug. Aug. 16 with driving 63 mph on the causeway. 17, after police received a report of a suspicious vehicle at the Sundial Resort. A caller said he witnessed the suspects When police arrived, they told the owner of the home that Thomas Walter Strimmel of Murryville, Pa., was putting something in the car and leaving the area. While his vehicle had been spotted at the Sundial and he invited charged Aug. 16 with driving 56 mph on Sanibel-Captiva police were responding, the security guard at the hotel I police in to search for the beer. Greer and five of his Road. called to say the pool bar cooler had been broken into and friends agreed to go to the Police Department to settle the beer had been taken. Police then spotted the vehicle and matter. Upon their arrival, Greer asked to speak to police Wayne Joesph Gregory of Boca Raton was charged with the occupants, including Greer, who was driving, admitted alone and admitted to the crime. driving 56 mph on Sanibel-Captiva Road on Aug. 16 they were at the scene, but did not take^beer, and agreed to let police search the vehicle. When asked where the rest of A woman who was house-sitting a home on San Carlos A woman from Kent, Wash., called police on Aug. 16 the group was, they told police they were at a home down to report that her mother and stepfather who told her they the street, and agreed to go there to settle the matter. Bay Drive called police on Sunday, Aug. 16, to report that 1 a spare key had been taken from her residence. When were vacationing on Sanibel for "a few days" more than police arrived they found that the face plate on the dead two weeks ago, had not returned home yet. She did not bolt looked like it had been pried off. The kitchen door to know where the couple was staying, or what type of car the home was also unable to be secured. Police agreed to they were driving, but did know they were going to visit i her step-uncle, whose name she did not know. Police <i> periodically check the home through the evening and the woman had the home re-keyed the next morning. searched the Sanibel phone book and came up with one possibility of who the man may be, but he did not know the couple. A caller from the Sanibel causeway reported to police on Aug. 16 that individuals were taking whole, live stone crabs from the area, but when police arrived, they were not A Port-O-Let on Old Banyon Road was reported knocked cable to locate anyone doing so. over on Aug. 16. A woman called police on Aug. 16 to report that she had lost a diamond and pearl ring somewhere between City Hall and West Gulf Drive. Rolex Owners An anonymous bicycler who was biking with his family ADD DIAMOND ELEGANCE TO YOUR WATCH on Saturday, Aug. 15 on Wulfert Road called police to Experience the sights of our beautiful Cuitom DUmonil DUU (5SL00 report that his family had nearly been run off the road by Caftan Otaund Bodi W5O00 island and waterways aboard our cruise Cfongefcur Dial Color $12100 what he believed to be a Sanibel resident boat.