South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 3

PM BEACH Sun-Sentinel, Tuesday, November 7, 1989 Section PB ipaDli irfcir said the department did not receive for to see the girl walking on the street, picked her up and was trying to take her home. Defense attorneys said the mix-up could prompt the judge to dismiss the charges against Miller. The destruction of evidence is the second mix-up attributed to the Police Department in the Miller case. Hours after Miller was arrested, he posted bail and was released because Del-ray Beach police failed to inform court officials that Miller had a long history of ar "I made it clear how vital that piece of tape was," said Howard Greitzer, Miller's lawyer. In response, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Marvin Mounts issued a written order on'Aug.

30 that police "preserve all dispatch tapes" from the night Miller was arrested in Delray Beach. But when the attorneys went to the Police Department on Oct. 31 to make a copy of the tape, they found it had been erased, i Greitzer said the tape might have backed up Miller's claim that he happened I I ft. yy 5 i An impressive entrance ushers residents home to a town whose peace has TOWN WITH A By KURT GREENBAUM Staff Writer In violation of a judge's order, the ray Beach Police Department has de-; stroyed audiotaped radio conversations made on the night that police arrested a man suspected of kidnapping a 6-year-old girl, attorneys on the case said. The attorneys for David Michael Miller, 35, said that evidence was critical to their case after he was charged on Aug.

18 with burglary and kidnapping. FAU move draws rage of backers Supporters fighting dismissal of official By JON MARCUS Staff Writer Powerful financial backers of Florida Atlantic University on Monday said they will fight the university's decision to oust a popular vice president, setting the stage for a showdown with administrators. Meanwhile, the firing of Adelaide Snyder, vice president for university relations and FAU's first employee, has caused major contributors to deny the university access to the $30 million they have raised. Acting FAU President John Ryan fired Snyder on Friday, although she already had announced her retirement effective in December 1990. She was offered the title of special assistant to the president, with a 10 percent cut in her salary, but has not accepted and refuses to resign.

As one of her duties, Snyder, 63, serves as director of the FAU Foundation, the Boca Raton-based independent fund-raising arm, whose officers include some of the most prominent civic and business leaders in the region. Those officers said that, despite the firing, they intend to keep Snyder on as their director at a salary probably drawn from the foundation's budget. A decision will be made today. "Her leadership is not something that we will relinquish readily," said Sydney Altman, a Palm Beach County developer who serves as the foundation's president. "We are appalled that someone who has been such a valuable asset to Florida Atlantic University would be treated in such a shabby manner." Altman ordered on Monday that only foundation employees and officers be allowed to sign checks covering the university's $14 million in available cash and $16 million in endowment, raised and maintained by the private association.

Previously, two university officials also had check-signing authority. Confrontation, especially with wealthy contributors, is the last thing university administrators want as they try to lead the school away from a recent history of mismanagement and poor community relations. Snyder's firing "certainly doesn't help" FAU's image, Altman said. James Spear, Ryan's assistant, responded that the action, "in the long run, is not going to hurt the university." "Clearly Mr. Altman and the officers of the foundation are not interested in doing that, or they wouldn't be where they are," Spear said.

Ryan was out of town and not available to comment. Also unavailable was President-elect Anthony Catanese, who consulted with Ryan about the changes. However, Catanese is scheduled to meet with foundation officers on Nov. 14. INSIDE LOCAL Meat-processing company is in trouble over ditches that run through government protected wetlands.

2B Lack of money to rebuild Federal Highway threatens Boca Raton's downtown redevelopment plans. 3B Investigators swoop down on two loan companies suspected of fraud. 63 rests and convictions for sex offenses. If police had done so, Miller likely would not have gotten bail. Several days later, police rearrested Miller, and a judge refused to set a bail figure.

Miller remains in the Palm Beach County Jail. Assistant State Attorney Doug Fulton, the prosecutor on the case, confirmed that the tape had been destroyed but declined to comment further. Greitzer blamed police, not Fulton, for the destroyed evidence. Delray Beach Police Maj. Rick Lincoln I Staff photoPAM SUSEMIEHL been shattered by airport noise.

PRICE f.1 in a cul-de-sac for the neighborhood children. The town hall does not have any regular hours and is more often closed than not Telephone calls to town officials are picked up by an answering machine. West Palm Beach City Manager and Golfview resident Ron Schutta who received an exception to live outside the city limits until he could sell his house when he became city manager in January said three years remain in the property owners' agreement to sell together. "Everybody is a little worried. They get a little impatient The market is soft But you cant sell your land individually anyway," Schutta said.

SEE GOtFVliW MB mal notice to copy the tape for more man 30 days after the arrest beyond, the time the police usually retain dispatchers' tapes. Still, he conceded that the judge orally put police officers on notice in the courtroom, several days after the arrest. Lincoln said he discussed the matter with the detective assigned to the case. "He can't explain what happened," Lln- SEETAPE7B Delray conviction rate 70 Study: Police exceed drug arrest average By JANE MUSGRAVE Staff Writer DELRAY BEACH Roughly 70 percent of all the drug arrests city police made in 1988 resulted in convictions, says a report the department released on Monday. The report, that was the product of a seven-week study done for City Commissioner Bill Andrews, traces the outcome of the roughly 500 drug arrests the department made in 1988.

Nearly 14 percent of the charges, for such crimes as sale or possession of marijuana and cocaine, were dropped before trial. Adjudication was withheld in an additional 9 percent, and those charged were placed on probation. Roughly 6 percent of the cases were still pending at the end of the year. The 70 percent conviction rate is higher than the national average, says a 1986 U.S. Department of Justice study that traced the outcome of all felony arrests, not just drug-related offenses.

The Justice Department study of big-city criminal justice systems published earlier this year says that nearly half of all felony cases were never brought to trial. The charges were dropped, either for lack of evidence or because the person charged was placed in a criminal diversion program or turned over to another law enforcement agency for prosecution on other charges. Andrews said he had not had a chance to review the city report in depth. He said he planned to meet with police later this week to determine if it contains the information he needs to see if the city can get more bang for its law enforcement buck. He said he wanted the cases traced to determine where the system is breaking SEE DRUGS 7B LW hopes historic hotel reopens soon By FRED LOWERY Staff Writer LAKE WORTH After being closed for 2'i years, the historic Gulf stream Hotel could reopen under new ownership by Jan.

1, city commissioners were told on Monday. The hotel is being bought by a group of Finnish investors for an undisclosed sum from Barnett Bank, which foreclosed on the property after previous owner Stephen Alex closed it suddenly in May 1987 "Rather than paying something down' they want to pay the whole cost of the ho tel in cash so they can go in and start making corrections to problems in the building," said Ed Lammi, local attorney for the investment group. Mayor Ron Exline, who said he had met the people involved in the deal said he did not know the proposed purchase price but speculated it could be in the neighborhood of $3 million. "They got a real good deal," said Ex-line, a real estate broker. He noted that the bank had been asking million for the property, but also had said it would ac-ceptless.

zr While declining to identify the individ-uals in the group, which is operating as In vestments Group Lammi slid tie principal member of the group is a snV cessf ul Finnish real estate investor who selling off many of his holdings to rai cash for the venture. Is? A Jan. 1 opening date is not that far" from reality, despite the length rf the hotel has been closed, Si "The hotel is in latrgoodcSSSi, -be said. "Although there IntF they they will have to do, fiSttg of a minor nature." mostly SSLE HOTEL 4B 7 1 4 If v. rx Belvedere Rd Palm Beach International1 Airport Staff graphlcDIEGO DEL VALLE For $35 million, Golf view, jet noise included, could be anyone's.

By STEPHANIE SMITH Staff Writer GOLFVIEW TOWN FOR SALE: 62 houses nestled among native pine trees and lush tropical foliage. Rename the town after yourself. Make your own laws. The town of Golf view is yours to do with as you will. The price: $35 million.

So far, the town just west of Palm Beach International Airport has not had any takers. But it has garnered a lot of attention. "All brokers say, 'We've had a lot of but when you have a town for sale you get an unbelievable amount of response even if a lot of it is just curiosity," said Alex Barboni of Arvida Realty Sales the broker trying to sell the town. The town has been listed for sale for about 1 Vi years and been advertised in the Netherlands, Japan, England and South America, Barboni said. Some quirky proposals have cropped up since a majority of the townspeople agreed in 1987 to sell their houses en masse because the airport's expansion encroached on the community's peace and quiet AI Cone, a member of the Golfview Property Owners Association, said one investor wanted to turn the approximately 60 acres into a cemetery.

Othr proposals included converting the laVa into an GolfviewJ I IB 1 Southern Blvd a I I i 5 1 PhotoED BUTT Mary O'Connell, left, and Berta MacDowell scamper on tree-lined drive. ethnic village, sort of a Germantown or Frenchtown, Cone said. The latest is a request from the Friends of Mounts Botanical Garden for the county to buy the property and make it a part of the botanical garden. A resolution from the property owners association endorsing the garden proposal is scheduled to be filed at the County Commission's meeting today. The commission routinely receives and files resolutions.

It amounts to nothing more than an acknowledgment Golfview is an oddity a country-like bedroom community bordered by bustling Military Trail and Belvedere Road. It is the kind of place where you have to cross speed bumps to traverse the town's three roads. Someone set op a basketball hoop.