The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 41

Lakeland Countywide coverage Winter THE TAMPA TRIBUNE naven Lake Bartow Wales Sunday, October 7, 1990 schools reach for cdmputer literacy Schools seek ways to fund equipment Polk 1 i -X i mi I ml mm, 'kV--. By L.A. MAXWELL Tribune Staff Writer BARTOW Computers are not about to replace pencils, paper and textbooks in Polk County classrooms. But school officials plan to make the machines nearly as common as chalk, spending millions on computer laboratories for all pupils. This fiscal year the district will spend nearly $500,000 on computers.

The district has 102 schools, almost 70,000 students and, at last count, 5,179 computers, said B.R. Black, who supervises instructional computing for the school system. The computer age in local schools dawned about 1977, and use of computers made a quantum leap in the middle of the 1980s, he said. School officials want more hardware and software, but the problem is money. Equipping a laboratory costs roughly $80,000 to $100,000, depending on the size of the school.

"We would like to have labs in all the schools, but can only add them as we have the necessary funds," Black said. Black said it would cost more than $5 million to equip every school in the district with a laboratory. All schools have some computers, but about 50 elementary schools, several middle, junior high and vocational schools as well as five high schools do not have a computer laboratory yet, Black said. Deciding who gets the laboratories is a difficult choice, he said, but is never based on the socioeconomic make-up of a particular school. A committee decides which schools will go on line next, with much of the consideration focusing on available classroom space, age of the building and how easily and safely the necessary electrical set-up would be, Black said.

All the elementary schools with laboratories set the machines up in a separate classroom, except Jesee Keen Elementary School in Lakeland. The laboratories have about 30 computers, a number of printers and individual student work stations. Pupils at all grade levels typi- i "'1 Tribune photograph by GREG FIGHT Computer teacher Mary Smither watches over a group of fourth-graders at Carlton Palmore Elementary's computer laboratory. programs to help them polish their writing and enable them to print short books and reports. The high school laboratories each have 16 computers, Black said.

Many individual classrooms in the county also have computers. cally come to the laboratory once or twice a week and spend between 30 and 45 minutes working on software aimed at supplementing regular classroom instruction in English, grammar, writing and mathematics. Pupils also use word-processing provided computers in exchange for specially color-coded cash register receipts. Schools also got 80 printers and thousands of dollars in software. See POLK, Page 2 A worthwhile alternative Black said schools received more than 220 computers last year in the "Apples for the Students" program run by Publix, the Lakeland-based supermarket chain.

Publix Young minds learn computer skills with great enthusiasm It I Xmtr i 0 1 '--I jw- I i1 By L.A. MAXWELL Tribune Staff Writer LAKELAND Nine-year-old Daniel Beard is proud of his proficiency on the computer. The fourth-grader at Jesse Keen Elementary School in Lakeland wrote a book last year using a word processing program. "If Daniel Were President" is one of dozens of books by Daniel and his classmates that were on display recently at the state Department of Education building in Tallahassee. "I like to play learning games on the computer and write stories and books," said Daniel, who said he's changed his mind about his future career since he wrote about what he would do if he were president of the United States.

"I said then I wanted to be a to and learn as much as you possibly can," said Kevin, 9, who said he wants to play professional football when he grows up. A classmate, Ryan Foreback, 9, said he looks forward to computer class "because it is very relaxing and you don't experience a lot of talking or noise like happens sometimes in the regular classroom." Smither, who has been the computer teacher at Carlton Palmore for three years, said one of the most exciting aspect of her classes Js there is no limit to the level of learning pupils can achieve. I "Because they proceed at their own pace, we find we have fifth-graders doing eighth-grade level work and the children just love it," Smither said. "They also learn re-See KIDS, Page 2 fireman, but now I want to be a farmer when I grow up," the youngster said. "Children take to computers beautifully," said Alice Ray-Over-street, computer curriculum specialist for the Polk County school system.

"Their attitude is incredibly positive." October is Computer Learning Month, but pupils and teachers at schools across the county will say any time is a great time to learn how to use computers. Kevin Goddard, like many of his classmates in fourth grade at Carlton Palmore Elementary said his favorite class is the one on computers taught by Mary Smither. He rushes into the computer laboratory when class begins. "Computer class is my favorite because you go at the rate you want 11 lift Tribune photograph by GREG FIGHT Paraprofessional Angel Bates helps Amanda Harmac, 9, in the computer lab at Jesse Keen Elementary School. Polk authorities yank 2 liquor licenses as bars become frontline in drug war Low-key public defender moves to private practice four were acquitted and 16 were convicted of less serious charges.

And while Shearer single-handedly represented murder de- fpnHnntc fnr the Iflth rirrnit hp- A 1 I tlf V'- SfP! By DOUG NURSE Tribune Staff Writer BARTOW The neighborhood around the Silver Spoon bar in Bartow dreaded the nighttime. Party-goers and patrons would deal drugs, hoop and holler, fight with fists or guns, play their music loud, urinate in people's yards, leave beer bottles everywhere, according to some neighbors and the Bartow police. "There was nothing you could do," said one neighbor who asked not to be identified. "I could hear the words of the songs from inside my house. We were uneasy about the drugs and all that they were doing there." Thirteen neighborhood residents in late 1989 submitted a petition to police calling for the bar to be closed.

Largely because of a shortage of personnel, Bartow Police Chief Roy McKinsey called the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage and Tobacco. On Aug. 24, the beverage agency, using an emergency administrative order for the first time in Polk County effectively closed the bar by yanking the owners' license to serve alcohol. Four patrons were arrested, two on outstanding narcotics warrants. The crowds went away and the owners closed the bar.

"Now we can sleep as much as we want," the neighbor said. "It's quiet. There's very little litter. It's nice." Three weeks later, the agency served a similar order on Barry's II on the outskirts of Lakeland, and arrested four employees on drug-related charges. The bar shut down.

The emergency administrative order is turning out to be an effective weapon in the local war on drugs, said Lakeland's Lt. Robert Bishop of the alcoholic beverage agency. "It shuts down the locale," Bishop said. "Bars can't make any money selling soda pop. Hopefully it sends a message that drug-dealing on licensed premises is something we will not tolerate." An emergency administrative order, approved by the agency's director, Harry Hooper, can be used only if investigators can demonstrate the bar owner or manager knows, or should have known, that drug dealing or other illegal activity is occurring on the premises.

The order suspends the license without due process in the courts and is difficult to obtain, Bishop said. Bar owners have 10 days to appeal the order and ask for a hearing by a state hearing examiner, who makes a recommendation to Hooper. Hooper's decision can be appealed to the Second District Court of Appeal. From March 1981 to June 1990, 165 emergency orders were issued statewide, and 109 licenses were revoked. Six cases were dismissed, said Jane Hennessy, spokeswoman for the state Department of Business Regulation.

The remainder of the cases resulted in sus- By BETH FOUSHEE Tribune Staff Writer BARTOW If Dorothy had gone to Oz with Larry Shearer she wouldn't have had to spend so much time looking for a heart, brains and courage. All three attributes have been right there all along in Shearer, a respected Bartow lawyer, his colleagues, friends and family say. After 13'2 years with the Public Defender's Office, Shearer bid adieu last Friday to take a crack at private practice. One co-worker described him as "the heart of the office," while many talked about his behind-the-scenes role as legal scholar and the brave and different tactics he would use in defending those accused of murder. The right-hand man to Public Defender Marion Moorman, Shearer handled all the murder cases for the office single-handedly in the early 1980s.

In recent years, Shearer hasn't gotten near the publicity that other local assistant public defenders have, like Robert Norgard and Austin Maslanik, who have handled some of the higher profile murder cases. But employees at the Public Defender's Office and their leader, Moorman, say they wonder how they're going to do without him. Shearer has joined the office of Thomas McDonald in Lakeland to continue handling criminal cases and also civil cases, particularly personal injury lawsuits. He will also be among a few private attorneys handling court-appointed murder cases when the Public Defender's Office has a conflict. The seasoned attorney said he's ready for a change; ready to grow and "maybe learn new areas of law." He started with the office after graduating from the University of Florida law school in March 1977 and four years later was assigned all the murder cases for the 10th Judicial Circuit, which includes Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties.

He started handling murder cases on Jan. 5, 1981, and four days later he was assigned the case of triple-murderer Paul Beasley Johnson. August 1986 was an especially good month for Shearer. Two of his murder clients were acquitted and another, Homer Manns who received a lot of publicity in the death of a four-year-old Alturas girl was convicted of a less serious charge. "That was the high (career) point," said Shearer, 38, of Lakeland.

Behind the scenes But there have been a lot of high points in Shearer's career. Qfit of 50 murder defendants he's represented tween 1981 and 1984, he was also Shearer doing administrative work as chief of the trial division. He became chief assistant public defender, the right-hand man to Moorman, two years ago. And Shearer's career hasn't been dull. In Shearer's first murder trial he won an acquittal for Willie M.

Roberson, charged with killing another man. Eight years later he represented Gertie Alston for Roberson's death and got an acquittal for Alston too. Shearer is also a behind-the-scenes mentor and teacher for newer attorneys and adviser for even the most experienced attorneys, according to Moorman and Maslanik. He conducts training seminars on death penalty cases for attorneys around the state and has been chairman of the statewide Public Defender's Death Penalty Steering Committee for the past five years. "Larry's one person who will never be replaced.

He's been the heart of this office for the last 12 or 13 years," Maslanik said. Lakeland private attorney Roger Alcott, who handles court-appointed murder cases, said he is among the experienced, private attorneys who go to Shearer for advice. "I think when Larry speaks people listen," Alcott said. "He's sort of the E.F. Hutton of the Public Defender's Office." Competitive but low-key Maslanikdescribed Shearer as an all-around, outstanding attorney.

Shearer is extremely knowledgeable about the law and skilled at planning defensive strategies, Maslanik said. "He's competitive," private attorney Geoffrey Foster, a former longtime assistant public defender, said recently. "He's an athlete. The competitiveness that athletics calls for has carried over in his practice of law." Shearer has a straight forward presentation in court; not the flair that some attorneys have. "He's not a theatrics person," Foster said.

But Assistant State Attorney Hardy Pickard, who handled all the murder trials for the State Attorney's Office when Shearer was handling them all for the Public Defender's Office, believes Shearer's style works for him. "A lot of people are low-keyed in the courtroom," See CO-WORKERS, Page 2 Tribune file photograph Lt. Robert D. Bishop of the state Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Division posts a notice of suspension on the front door of the Silver Spoon bar Aug. 25.

pensions, fines, or imposition of specific conditions before the license could be restored, Hennessy said. A liquor license costs $1,400 and is good for one year. Owners of the Silver Spoon and Barry's II have appealed, but have not had their hearings yet, Bishop said. L.H. and Georgia Haggins, who own the bar, said at the time of the raid that they knew nothing of any drug dealings in their bar.

Bartow attorney Richard Mars said that while drug-dealing may have occurred in Barry's II, Barry Mcln-tire, the owner and manager, knew nothing of it, and would not have tolerated it. Mars said arrest affidavits against the employees indicate the amount of drugs possibly sold in the bar were very small and furtive transactions could have been done easily, especially considering Barry's II is a relatively large bar. Lt. Gary Hester of the sheriff's special investigations section, which investigates narcotics violations, said arresting drug dealers or just making them move disrupts their operation and makes them vulnerable to infiltration by law enforcement. The Sheriffs Office assisted in investigating the two Polk County bars and on the raids.

"If somebody gets busted, he doesn't want to deal with old sources or customers because he doesn't know; who turned him in," Hester said. "It creates some- Sff 2 POLK, Page ft.