Around the Pritt honored City birthday plans snagged islands page 19 JULY 22, 1999 VOLUME 26 I NUMBER 29 5 * M ^ t L L i ° K a K V 32 PAGES 0 rA FL ORTER SANIBEL&CAPTIVA, FLORID^ FIRST WITHTHENEWSl COME SAIL AWAy No new taxes ; F«.i " .••-'' /''" ••'•• --BB111 Millage set at rolled-back rate '•- By Jennifer Workman hearings — this year scheduled to 1 Staff Writer begin Sept. 18 — and then strives to [a achieve the rolled-back rate as the Sanibel residents can expect their actual millage rate so as not to JBBG taxes to stay the same — or perhaps impose a tax increase. But this year, even be lower — for the year 2000 Councilrnember Nola Theiss pro- : A 1 II-1' AT LEFT: Kelcey thanks to the Sanibel City Council's posed that the council go about 'A . c • : . 1 Morgan prepares to unanimous agreement to set the planning the city budget as she II 1 : '-., ^ "'" '•**'•' VV.-" '-,* jump aboard her millage rate at the rolled-back rate would her own —- by first deciding 't :: :; Laser sailboat while of 1.9181, how much money they actually ||f||HK'' i^tf--^ ^. /'.: " instructor Scott Usually, the council sets the pro- have and then deciding how to H^^p^K'•;.-•./':;: • • '•'••;';'- :• ...•.' 1 Conway gives her a posed millage at a • higher rate to spend it,- instead of deciding what i • 1 hand last week as allow a safe cushion for unexpected part of a city-spon- expenses that arise in the budget ; : : i : : : 1> See Taxes, page 3 |^W« AV^ '•••• :K.i'.;H :A ^ ' - - •'!'! \ sored sailing class ; :: i ; ; ••^•"•'•' ' ' •^•••-••^'•''• • ''' "--* •; »:' 1 held off Bailey Road Hf'1'-.'.-'•'••••;';.:;::-!;.-'- ••••.•''••.•• 'y'>':?*">• in San Carlos Bay. Wg-'r-- '^~i^:: •:•••'•%•'. :, •:^;.yf:^: Conway will offer Heart defect blamed in W''"- •'•'•"•• '-•^••••';:' :'' •''••.:••'•••• ••'••"'":• another session Aug. mW.:~,V'y:',•.''•'•••.••' • y:•••:':'} •'•••.,\'y 8-16. It's open to chil- dren age 8 and older. 1 1 1 : ,. .'•.'.V ^-''.^.'^J ^;'-^-^:!;^--':"^ "' ' 9-year-old's drowning 1 For information, call Conway at 395-0337. vacationing with her family from 1 • •; •' \\-f:••••'•'^••,''•'.:'U;::*;SISIi5:i M Editor's note/page 6 : ; "•/•'- ,:'•...:•••: "•.•.'.-• :^">-*^ -"^?^@!^ For more photos of • the sailing class, see Independence, Ky. page 14. By Pattie Pace While holding her breath under- I ^^ Staff Writer water, an abnormal heart rhythm meant her heart wasn't contracting 1 A Leu COUMJ uiL'dicuL examiner normally anil hloodflow was blamed an undiagnosed, congenital reversed. heart defect for the drowning of 9- "She was probably unconscious "I year-old Stephanie Bahr last week at underwater (before drowning)," 1 the Sanibel Surfside condominium Hamilton said. pool at 610 Donax Street. According to police reports, "She had a hole in her heart," Dr. 1 Michael Pistclla Rebecca Hamilton said of Bahr, t> See Drowning, page 3 Man charged in murder of 7-Eleven manager FIRED UP By Pattie Pace assigned a prosecutor to the case. Staff Writer Plascencia, 36, was extradited last week from a Mexican jail, where he's been in custody since December of 1997. Jose Raul Plascencia has been He arrived in Lee County last Wednesday. He was Blastic's charged with first-degree murder in the roommate at the time of her March, 1996 murder. 1996 slaying of Michaelene Blastic, a According to;. 7-Eleven employee Lorene Pesnell, former .manager at the 7-Eleven store Blastic, 38, had quit her job as manager approximately two on Periwinkle Way at Tarpon Bay Road weeks prior to her death. Coworkers began to worry about who.;.was found stuffed inside the •her after a friend and; her mother both called the business refrigerator of her Fort Myers apart- looking for her, saying they'd been unable to reach her at ment. home, Pesnell advised them to call the police. :. Plascencia is being held without The Lee County Sheriff's Office was notified Blastic bond at the Lee County Jail and his was missing March 13. A deputy became suspicious after arraignment is set for Friday, Aug. 13. discovering notes taped to the door of her Barkley Circle The State Attorney's Office has not yet Plascencia l> See Murder, page 2 CHILDREN'S THEATER Islanders recall JFK Jr/s death and his visit here By pawn Grodsky Editor As the grim realization set in over the weekend that John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister, Lauren Bessette were dead following their plane crash just off Maltha's Vineyard Friday night, the country reacted with all-too-well-prac- ticed grief and shock. Shock that another vibrant, young Kennedy member of the Kennedy clan — America's family •— had died at such a young age and grief Michael Pistella for the loss of all three. Kennedy, at 38, was younger than Claudette Beerman, a home-schooled 17- his father was when he was assassinated at age 46 in 1963. year-old from Sanibel, fires a gun during a Jill Goodman And the Bessette family lost two children, Carolyn, 33, and firearms training session at the Southwest Marjorie Sokoloff instructs children Lauren, 34. Florida Law Enforcement Explorer including islander Johanna Harmon in a Two years ago, the island was all a buzz with the unan- Academy with Sanibel police officer Ron summer workshop at the Florida Curry at her side. For details of the aeade; Repertory Theatre. For details, see page 9. > See JFK, page 8 my and more photos, please see page 13. 2 • JULY 22, 1999 • ISLAND REPORTER e a t h e r Murder From page 1 apartment in Fort Myers. Because the notes Employees at island 7-Eleven stores who High Low Rain weren't in Blastic's handwriting, deputies worked with Blastic are anxiously waiting July 14 93 76 .10 searched her home and found her body Plascencia's trial. July 15 92 77 .02 stuffed inside the refrigerator. Bill Holloway, who was Blastic's assistant July 16 92 72 — An autopsy performed March 14 con- manager in 1996, said, "Obviously I'm July 17 92 78 firmed that she was murdered and deputies pleased they got him but it's a shame, of July 18 94 76 .25 said Blastic probably knew her killer. course. She was a good person, easy to get July 19 93 77 — In addition, Blastic's 1996 green Saturn along with," he said. July 20 94 77 .10 was stolen from her home and discovered Pesnell said she was so upset with March 17 at the Food Lion in North Fort i1 accounts of the murder back in 1996 that she Myers. had to quit watching television to bring some Rainfall for July is 4.13 inches so far. "She was the best manager we ever had. semblance of normalcy back into her life. Note: Rainfall levels are recorded from the She was a nice, nice, nice lady. I miss her," "We're still all upset about it," Pesnell morning of the day given to the following morn- said 7-Eleven employee Howie Carpenter, said, noting phone calls are flying amid her ing. whose wife called him while he was on coworkers who worked with Blastic. "We Source: Island Water Association vacation to tell him Plascencia was being Michaelene Blastic will be keeping up with (the trial)." brought to stand trial in Lee County. The Island Reporter is.your official newspaper! REM YOUR FUTURE? Shell Point Cfcr SilSlI Point? Tfefi Choice IS Yours Decisions get easier in this remarkable world of two superb lifestyles — The Island, with residences available now, surrounds you with boat docks and waterfront vistas, while The Woodlands, now under construction, is home to championship golf and a nature preserve. 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ISLAND REPORTER Q JULY 22, 1999 • 3 Pritt named president of association By Pattie Pace of 10,000 units and 30,000 people. Staff Writer During the end of June in 1987, Pritt was thumbing through his Florida Bar News magazine and saw an ad for Sanibel City Attorney Bob Pritt may be a bit weary from the city attorney on Sanibel.