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Sports, Page 4
In the
know
CLEARWATER pinellas.tampabay.com Wednesday, July 23, 2008 CLW
BLOCKBUSTER
THIEF STILL FREE;

Land sales may go to voters

POLICE NEED TIPS
A robber with a knife hand-
cuffed the manager of a
Blockbuster video store
during a holdup Tuesday
morning, police said. The
25-year-old manager,
whose name the Times is
withholding because the The County Commission plans a meeting Aug. 5
robber has not been caught,
was unlocking the store at on a charter change to protect sensitive preserves.
2045 Gulf-to-Bay Blvd. about
9:30 a.m. when the robber BY THERESA BLACKWELL require a referendum any time nance to protect park and envi-
forced him inside, locked Times Staff Writer county officials wanted to sell, ronmental lands after an uproar
the door, handcuffed him CLEARWATER — Pinellas convey or transfer more than from environmentalists about
and put him in a back room County commissioners moved 1 acre of the county’s environ- projects the county had pro-
while the robber tried to get closer Tuesday to giving voters mental lands. posed in the Brooker Creek Pre-
into a safe. Investigators the authority to kill any future At that Aug. 5 hearing, com- serve. But last year the commis-
think the robber may have sales of the county’s environmen- missioners could decide whether sion scrapped the ordinance in
had some “indirect contact” tal lands. to go forward with the amend- favor of a charter amendment.
with customers at the front The commission voted to hold ment. If the amendment is passed as
door because the business a public hearing Aug. 5 on a pro- “Hopefully, this will pass and now written, county commission-
was scheduled to open at posed charter amendment that this conversation can be put to ers would have to ask the voters for
10 a.m. The robber removed would be on the ballot in Novem- rest once and for all,” Commis- approval before disposing of more ATOYIA DEANS | Times
the handcuffs before fleeing ber. sioner Susan Latvala said. than an acre of any environmen- Brooker Creek is home to many flowers, including Nymphaea
with an undisclosed amount If approved by voters, it would Latvala first proposed an ordi- . See LANDS, 4 odorata, commonly known as the American white water lily.
of money. The manager
called police at 10:44 a.m.
Police described the robber
as a clean-shaved black
man 22 to 26 years old,
standing about 6 feet, 2
inches tall, weighing 175 to
180 pounds and wearing his
hair in a short Afro about an
inch to an inch and a half
long. He was wearing a blue
dress shirt and khaki or gray
pants. Police ask anyone
with information about the
robbery to call their tip line at
(727) 562-4422.

MID PINELLAS
Man, 78, accused
of soliciting minors
Pinellas County sheriff’s
deputies Thursday arrested
a 78-year-old mental health
counselor,
accusing him
of arranging
for the sexual
abuse of two
children.
Charles J.
Friedlander
Friedlander
of Fort Myers
was charged with seduction
of a child using the Internet
and traveling to meet a
minor. Friedlander used an
Internet chat room to solicit
another person to engage in
physical and sexual abuse
of two boys, ages 10 and
11, according to an arrest
report. Friedlander was
chatting with an undercover
investigator who played
the role of the boys’ parent.
Friedlander was arrested
JIM DAMASKE | Times
Monday after driving to
Crews are completing the last 30 feet of the east side of the Belleair Causeway. All the piers are completed and the bridge is now 50 percent complete. When
an unspecified location
finished, the $72.2-million, fixed span bridge will rise about 75 feet above the Intracoastal Waterway. The bridge is scheduled to open in the fall of 2009.
in Pinellas to carry out the

Belleair Causeway
plan and bringing along
unspecified “implements”
. BY THE NUMBERS
of physical abuse, officials
said. His arrest culminated 1.5 miles Total project length
a monthlong investiga-
tion by the Pinellas County 2,748,741

to close for 24 hours

Sheriff’s Office and Florida
Department of Law Enforce-
ment. Friedlander, who was
released from jail Tuesday
after posting $20,000 bail,
could not be reached for
comment Tuesday.
TARPON SPRINGS
SCORE with a free
business seminar
Thinking about starting
a small business? Mem-
bers of the Service Corps
of Retired Executives are
offering a free seminar on
“Ten Steps to Starting Your
Own Business” from 7 to 9
p.m. July 29 at the Tarpon
Springs Library, 138 E Lemon
St. Registration is requested.
Materials and handouts will
be provided. To sign up, call
the library at (727) 943-4922.
Pinellas deaths
Apergis, John
Brady, Richard H.
Byford, Ruth M.
Conforti, Margaret
Davis, Gloria J.
East, Harold L.
Freborg, Florence
Gold, Sandra Bea
Hooper, Matthew Leonard
Line, Richard F.
Medves, Albert J.
Novak, Elizabeth L. “Betty”
Orellano, Kaylinn M. “KK”
Riddle, Nina M. (Flink)
Schwartz, James H. “Jim”
This list is from detailed obitu-
aries published in Section B.
Pounds of reinforcing steel
21,937 Cubic yards of concrete
3,350 feet Length of main bridge
100 feet Horizontal navigational clearance
The idea is to decrease future one-lane closures during construction.
BY SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA The causeway will close at 7 struction time as short as possible, The north side of the bridge end bents have been erected,
Times Correspondent p.m. Saturday and will reopen keep workers and motorists safer will have several floating docks and the last 30 feet of the east
The Belleair Causeway Bridge to traffic 24 hours later at 7 p.m. during construction, and reduce and a new water access area for approach are nearly finished.
— a major route to the gulf Sunday, when motorists will be the number of lane closures that vehicles that is ideal for loading. Work on the northern half of the
beaches — will be completely driving over the north half of the would otherwise have been neces- The 300- by 28-foot water access relief bridge, including slabs, is
closed to traffic Saturday in a new relief bridge. sary to complete construction of area will be laid with articulated wrapping up.
move that officials say could The complete closure was pro- the new relief bridge.” block, allowing grass to grow “The project is on time and on
significantly reduce the time posed by the project contractor When completed, the $72.2- through for a more natural envi- budget.”
needed to complete construction to reduce future traffic delays million, fixed span bridge will ronment. Construction of one-quarter
of the new bridge. caused by construction. rise about 75 feet above the Intra- A new parking area will be of a mile of the road is using an
“We are closing the causeway “While this closure is a tem- coastal Waterway. constructed on the east side of innovative incremental launch
to shift traffic to the north side porary inconvenience, it will sig- The project includes several the causeway, next to the future method, the first to be used on a
of the newly constructed relief nificantly decrease the need for public leisure enhancements: bait house concession. concrete structure. Horrnik lik-
bridge,” said Tony Horrnik, proj- future one-lane closures on the water access, docks, a recon- “The project is now about 50 ens it to a slow rocket launch.
ect manager for the Pinellas relief bridge,” Horrnik said. “The structed boat ramp facility, a dog percent completed,” Horrnik The bridge is scheduled to
County public works department. 24-hour closure will keep con- beach and parking. said. “All 30 piers and the two open in the fall of 2009.
Two-decade trail finally leads to trial
A shoe print, a change in story, and a suspect faces a judge in a bar worker ’s killing.
BY JACKIE ALEXANDER decades since Susan Heyliger died, that night. He had no alibi for the
Times Staff Writer her relatives filled nearly three rows of early morning hours. His tennis
The original medical examiner who seats behind the prosecutors’ table. shoes matched a shoe print found at
did the autopsy on the victim has been The night of June 7, 1987, Hey- the scene. And his criminal record
dead for 20 years. The supervising liger, 42, was cleaning up after clos- included a charge of burglary.
police officer has retired to a cabin in ing the Country Club Lounge on East But it would take another 16 years
Montana. And the primary officer now Bay Drive. Unknown to her, someone and a slipup in his story before Lobik
works somewhere else. was hiding in the ceiling above the was arrested, officials said.
But those who know the case best men’s bathroom. He hit her, strangled At first, Lobik consistently denied
came to a Pinellas County courtroom her and slit her throat, authorities say, that he was in the crawl space. When
JIM DAMASKE | Times Tuesday to testify at the trial of a man before getting away with $600. questioned in 2004, however, Lobik
Jeffrey Lobik, 41, is on trial in the 1987 murder Largo police spent 18 years investigat- Two years later, Largo police found told a detective he had gone into the
of Susan Heyliger, whose throat was slit, at the ing before arresting. a prime suspect, Jeffrey Lobik, now crawl space to smoke crack that night.
Country Club Lounge in Largo. And although it has been two 41. He had been drinking at the bar . See SLAYING, 4