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

STATE PAGE 14B Sun-Sentinel, Saturday, September 26, 1998 Section PB POLITICS Mitch Lipka Delray youths are getting it together "If Loss of All-American City award a wake-up call for divided groups although they posed a united front during the presentation. Today, both groups are talking about making the appearance of unity into a reality. "Kids are kids regardless of what group they belong to and their interests are going to be fairly similar," said Frank McKinney, founder of the Greater Delray Beach Youth Council. On Oct. 4, members of the youth council for the first time will join the MAD DADS youth choir for unity in song at Cason United Methodist Church.

Adults also will be invited to sing, Ridley said. The two groups also are starting to work together on a joint teen-age cen- PLEASE SEE YOUTHS 8B By BRAD BENNETT Staff Writer DELRAY BEACH They may not have brought home the All-America City award this year, but two youth groups divided along socioeconomic lines are taking their first steps toward unity. The Greater Delray Beach Youth Council and young people associated with Men Against Destruction, Defending Against Drugs and Social Disorder are planning to party together, sing together and work together for the first time. Although a handful of youths are members of both groups, the organizations have been largely divided along social, economic, racial and geographi- cal lines. But after working together on the All-America City presentation given in Mobile, in June, the young people are starting to see just how much they have in common.

"I just think they all see themselves as youth for Delray Beach," said Chuck Ridley, director of MAD DADS. "They really want to see a wholesome community." Delray Beach held up the groups of black and white youths as an example of its unity and diversity before a 12-member panel of All-America City judges. One group, all black from lower-income neighborhoods, is the MAD DADS All-America Youth Choir and Project Connect, an affiliated tutoring program. The other group is made up of more affluent black and white youths in the Greater Delray Beach Youth Council, some of whom are the children of city leaders. Aside from the scripted presentation and related rehearsals, MAD DADS youths seldom mingled with youth council members, and they rode separate buses to and from Alabama, Levine rides loophole to a seat in the House uess who didn't vote for Curt Levine.

Would you believe Curt Levine? It's not that he didn't want to. He just couldn't. That's because Levine was not a resident of a 1 I i 1 prrr.rr-'rr I gi ii jwfc imm 1 1 i ti I Tf" I ji i i V. 1 CJ the district he was elected to represent. He is yet another candidate to gain office through a legal loophole that allows non-district residents to qualify to run for office.

The way the law is written for state legislators they must move into the district before taking office. Levine already has lined up a house in District 89, which he was elected to serve. If Levine would have run in his own district, Republican-leaning District 87, he would have to get past Republican Bill Andrews. That's a tough task for a Democrat, even one such as Levine, who used to be a Republican. This isn't a rap against Levine that he ran outside his home district.

He did nothing wrong. It's the system that stinks. Look at the District 88 race. Arguably, none of the candidates really lived in the district. Certainly Greg Nicosia didn't.

Chris Anstead didn't. Well, re-elected state Rep. Suzanne Jacobs, kind of does. She bought a place in the district after she was first elected. However, her husband still lives and takes the family's homestead exemption at a house in another district.

In the District 89 race two years ago, neither Barry Silver nor Glenn Wichinsky nor Scott Brenner lived in the district. Silver moved when he won. County commissioners have to live in the districts they want to represent, so do those elected to city offices. Statewide pffices have residency requirements. What makes legislators so special that they' get to pick the district they think they can win in and then move in? Oh, yeah, they're the ones who make the laws.

He isn't Opie It was an astounding fluke of low-turnoutitis. One-time Palm Beach County Commissioner Ron Howard, a former Republican, made it to a runoff for the Democratic nomination for state education cemmissioner. How, many politicians asked aloud, did Howard get that far. They agree: It's all in a name. With a name like Ron Howard and a nickname of "Opie," the votes started ringing up.

The farther away from home he got, the stronger he was. Those in the know (and newspapers, too) have lobbied hard to prevail upon voters that Howard is way out of his league. Now the Boca Raton resident and former Lantana schoolteacher, whose claim to fame in his home county is tackling the weighty issue of G-string-clad hot dog vendors, actually has a shot at going all the way. This is a guy who constantly was attacked by his County Commission colleagues for failing to show up at board meetings on such trivial items as the county budget. This also is a guy who has built an impressive portfolio of failed races.

On the upside, Howard has been unable to raise money for his race. Of the 30 contributions to his campaign, 19 came from his home address. It adds up to $10,890 including a $6,600 loan from himself. His Democratic opponent, Peter Rudy Wallace, reports raising $336,000. Republican Tom Gallagher has raised more than $500,000.

If the pathetic turnout for the first primary allowed Howard's famous namesake to give him a boost, what's going to happen when just about no one shows up for the second primary? If you ever wondered how lousy candidates get elected, this is one way that happens. Bad pay, lousy hours Interested in civic duty and making $80 to $100 for a long day's work? The Supervisor of Elections is looking for a few hundred poll workers to round out the 3,500 complement necessary to run the Nov. 3 elections. The hours are 6 a.m.to 8 p.m. For more information, call 561-355-2650 and ask for ext.

0217. Staff photoTAYLOR JONES Andy Gross roughhouses with his son, Aaron, 4, at Don Carter's All Star Lanes on Friday during an afternoon of bowling after Hurricane Georges left the area relatively unscathed. It wasn't all bad, by Georges Boca and Delray residents try to enjoy storm-induced day off administrator. While the death toll rose in the Caribbean and destruction reigned in the Florida Keys, talk of storm squalls and tornadoes never materialized here. The fringe of the hurricane sent maximum wind gusts of 49 mph into Palm Beach County enough to send a tree crashing into cars in Boca Raton, whip dry palm fronds onto roads and down a few power lines.

Indeed, Georges proved more holiday-maker than troublemaker in places like Boca Raton and Delray Beach. The Boca Teeca Golf Course was closed, but that didn't stop Tom Harrington, 60, of Boca Raton. He and two buddies met to practice their swings. The three men walked around the PLEASE SEE HOLIDAY 5B By STACEY SINGER and MITCH LIPKA Staff Writers A day set aside for toughing out the storm on Friday turned into the opener of an unexpected three-day weekend for most Palm Beach County residents. After a week of nervously tracking Hurricane Georges, people expressed thanks that the storm left the area relatively unruffled.

Staff at the county's Emergency Operations Center had prepared for the worst, sleeping on cots and working in shifts. But supervisors sent most employees home at noon. By 2 p.m., the emergency phone bank was shut down. "We feel kind of fortunate that we dodged another bullet," said Vince Bonvento, assistant county Staff photoMARK RANDALL Hank Protzman windsurfs in the waves and winds of Hurricane Georges on Friday morning off Delray Beach. He says he was able to sail along the beach at about 30 mph.

Tax break issue for businesses is up to voters Millions in revenue are at stake; it's all about fairness, both sides claim The Politics Column appears every Saturday. Write to Mitch Lipka at 3333 S. Congress Delray Beach, FL 33445. Revision 10 would allow the Legislature to grant tax exemptions to businesses at city-owned or special district ports. CAMPAIGN '98 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT appraisers led by Rob Turner of Hillsborough County.

They say it would be unfair for Florida's taxpayers to lose the benefit of an estimated $25 million to $30 million a year in tax revenue from profit-making businesses that just happen to be located at airports or seaports. That would be the practical effect of passing Revision 10, they say. "It's nothing more than another tax break for special interests and a burden on the taxpayers individually," Broward County Property Appraiser Bill Markham said. Markham sued Port Everglades' ten- PLEASE SEE TAX 1 1 counties enjoy immunity because taxing them would be like the state taxing itself. Port tenants complain that it would destroy "a level playing field" to tax businesses based on how their port landlords happen to be organized, said Clay Henderson, a member of the Constitution Revision Commission.

The commission's proposed remedy is Revision 10 on the Nov. 3 ballot. It would allow the Legislature to grant tax exemptions to businesses at city-owned or special district ports so they could enjoy the same freedom from taxation as their counterparts at county-owned facilities. The measure is opposed by property Seventh in a series of articles on the 13 constitutional amendments on the Nov. 3 ballot.

By NOREEN MARCUS Staff Writer Both sides in the debate over tax breaks for businesses at seaports and airports claim that they have a lock on fairness. The Florida Ports Council and the League of Cities maintain that it is unfair that warehouses and other businesses at facilities like those in Tampa face having to pay a new property tax because they are in special districts or are city-owned. Yet Miami and other ports owned by INSIDE Parents are upset at students' schedules, which have them going to class on Columbus Day. 3B The Children's Museum in Boca Raton looks for contributions to help fix its roof. 3B -4.