Coral Gables Historical Archive
The Times
Wednesday, April 28, 1976, page 1 (of 32)
The page
The text of this pageRead by computer from the scan, so some words may be wrong. The page picture is the original.
New hand at helm of Times/Guide
Jim Storey, formerly with The Charlotte Observer and News, has been named General Manager of The Times-Guide, replacing John Sugg. Sugg resigned from the paper to return to daily newspaper work. Storey, who was raised in Atlanta, worked his way through Georgia Tech on a co-op program. He studied a quarter, then worked at Lockheed Georgia Company a quarter, alternating until he received his degree in electrical engineering. He began working part-time at Fidelicom as a manufacturing representative in audio equipment and when he finished school, took the job full time. In September of 1972, he moved to North Carolina and joined The Charlotte Observer and News as a manager trainee in retail advertising. In three and a half years, he worked his way up to assistant to the advertising director where he gained experience in every phase of the retail and classified departments. Storey said he was not reluctant to leave Charlotte to assume his new position at The Times-Guide. Working at a large, metropolitan newspaper has had its rewards, Storey said, but its lack of intimacy, of close-knit communication, began to bother him. "I'm looking forward to being involved with a newspaper that is a real part of the community," he said. "The Times-Guide has really progressed in the last few months and my objective is to see that we keep going forward. My style is to get involved." Storey and his wife Susan will reside in South Dade. Jim Storey ... general manager
Part-time jobs!
Delivering the Times/Guide is a great opportunity for young people, 10 to 16, to earn money and prizes in their spare time. For a route, call us at... 666-7981
Times-Guide
44 Pages Vol. 50 No. 35 Wednesday, April 28, 1976 10 Cents
Ruling on Gables sex scandal firing may come in two weeks
By ERICA MEYER Staff Writer Coral Gables Assistant City Attorney Robert Zahner renounced the city's personnel rules and regulations and two of the three charges against former Personnel Director Dwight Small at a hearing Monday, April 26, contesting Small's dismissal by the city's Trial Board. A ruling on the Board's support of City Manager J. Martin Gainer's decision to fire Small is expected from Circuit Court Judge Herbert Stettin within two weeks. Stettin will rule on whether Small received due process of law in his dismissal and whether there was sufficient evidence to indicate wrongdoing. Gainer dismissed Small in May, 1975, after a conversation in which Small spoke of his own activities while discussing alleged misconduct on the part of another city employe. Small's attorneys, Michael Tobin and Richard Burton, maintained that the city manager then talked to city officials and Trial Board members about dismissal before the hearing. They also say Small should have been told that the conversation with Gainer would be used against him. They contend the Trial Board did not deal with Gainer's allegations against Small, but dealt only with the expense of replacing him and whether the allegations had hurt his effectiveness. Attorneys for Small said he had not been given the pre-termination hearing promised by city personnel rules. Zahner said the city charter, which promises no such hearing, supersedes personnel rules. Gainer's letter dismissing Small alleged: 1) conduct unbecoming to a department head; 2) failure to report an investigation of misconduct by other city employes; 3) failure to be governed by standard morals coupled with an allegation that Small took his girlfriend on city trips. Zahner admitted that Small reported the alleged misconduct of another employe properly and that his trips with his girlfriend, though arranged by Assistant to the City Manager Joe Mantinan, "didn't cost the city any money." Small's lawyers said the trips were vacation junkets paid for by Small. Judge Stettin will rule on the remaining charge: conduct unbecoming. Small's attorneys say there has been no evidence of any wrongdoing. Burton said, "Small was denied due process. There was no substantial evidence." If Stettin overrules the Trial Board's action, Small's lawyers said they anticipate reinstatement with back pay. "You can't incriminate someone who hasn't done anything," Burton said. Tobin added, "The city is discriminating with the rules and regulations, using them only if it's to their advantage to obtain the duties of personnel under those regulations. Their case is obviously weak and failing." Zahner gave only short arguments during the hearing, but told the Judge, "We will rely on our brief summarizing the case."
Convoy
Would you want one of these in your front yard? Folks who live along LeJeune Road in the south end of Coral Gables say they have no choice. The once quiet residential street has become a throughway for trucks and it seems like it's convoy-time constantly, they say. Photo by ELIZABETH OWEN
Slow mail service upsets him
By ERICA MEYER Staff Writer Vincent Cook was very upset. His mail was being forwarded to Ohio, where he spent some time several months ago, instead of being delivered to his Alcazar Avenue home in Coral Gables. "We are getting very poor service," Cook said "We get a different postman every day. The mail might come at 2 p.m. or it might come at 5 p.m. The neighbors are complaining too." True. Next door, Mrs. Robert Sherer reported,"We never know when the mail is coming. Sometimes, we get no magazines for a week and then we get a whole bunch." But Mrs. Sherer thought the problem might be temporary. "We've lived here for years. Our regular assigned postman is ill and I think they must be assigning substitutes." At the Coral Gables Post Office on Valencia, branch Manager Joseph Kelly confirmed Mrs. Sherer's speculation. "Their postman has been off," Kelly said. "We have about seven substitutes that fill in and if they can't cover, we have to give the route to another carrier to fill in after he or she finishes his own route." Kelly said some Gabelites are experiencing a change in mail delivery time because of overall route reassignments that occurred on March 28. "Lots of routes have changed," he said. "Some people who used to get their mail at 10 a.m. now get it at 2 p.m. But all we owe them is mail delivery between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m." Kelly also explained that new or substitute carriers don't know individual households and have trouble keeping track of address changes See SLOW, Page 16