The Times

Saturday, May 29, 1976, page 1 (of 31)

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Parade in vets' memory steps off Monday

By EDWIN KNIGHT Staff Writer The 79-unit, City of West Miami Memorial Day Parade, supposedly the biggest Memorial Day Parade in Florida, will step off at 4:30 p.m. Monday. It will be led for the third consecutive year by the famed Parris Island Marine Corps band, which is one of 10 musical units in the parade's five sections. The parade serves as a prelude to a patriotic and non-sectarian Memorial Day service which included the laying of wreaths at a flag pole in the city's Open Space Park. Representatives of nearby municipalities and Dade County as well as civic and veterans' organizations annually take part in the wreath laying, which is a tribute to those who a have died in the nation's most recent wars. Instead of winding its way through the city's streets, the parade this year will begin at SW 16th Street and SW 65th Avenue and move east to Red Road. It will turn a corner and disband on an adjacent street according to the parade's overall chairman, James Slaughter. For the second year, the parade is beginning later in the day to make it cooler for both the participants and viewers. In addition to a patriotic and Memorial Day theme, this year's parade will carry a bicentennial theme and include floats depicting America's 200 years. In addition to the Marine Corps band, other musical units will include the National Guard 13th Army Band, the Coral Park High School Band, the Silhouettes Drum and Bugle Corps, the St. Andrew Bagpipe Band, the Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School band, the DaVinci School band, the Miami Senior High School band and the Greater Miami Mummers String band. The parade and the Memorial service have grown in the nine years since its forming in 1967. "We're trying to keep the parade about the same size," explained Parade Chairman Slaughter. "But the whole purpose is to draw participants to the Memorial service." This Sunday, the day preceding the parade, the Marine band, for the second year, will present a concert at 4 p.m. at the Open Space Park, SW 16th Street and 58th Avenue.

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The Times Guide

"Serving The City Beautiful Since 1926" 4627 Ponce de Leon Boulevard Coral Gables, Florida 33146 Florida's Best Suburban Newspaper Phone 666-7981 32 Pages Vol. 50 No. 44 Weekend Edition May 29/30, 1976 ★★ 10 Cents

Enjoy ...

The good life in South Dade and Coral Gables this summer. See how in our Leisure Living section inside.

Peace poppies

"Wear a poppy for a veteran, please?" asked Mary Douglas in front of Publix Supermarket in Coral Gables Friday. Mary was one of several members of the American Legion Auxiliary, Coral Gables Unit #98, who sold poppies in honor of Memorial Day weekend. Photo by ELIZABETH OWEN

Ambulance strike poses a danger to CG accident victims

By ERICA MEYER Staff Writer A child on Alcazar is hit by a car. Rescue 1 from the Coral Gables Fire Department gives first aid and takes the child to Variety Children's Hospital. A man in Gables Estates has an epileptic seizure. Rescue 2 administers first aid and takes him to Baptist Hospital. Then, in your home on Minorca or Coral Way or LeJeune, you have a heart attack. And there is no one to come for you. Usually, either of the Gables' rescue teams would come, sirens screaming, to your house within minutes. But, with Randall Eastern Ambulance Service into the seventh week of a strike, Coral Gables rescue teams are transporting patients as well as treating them, and a time overlap is a constant danger. Area fire departments - the City of Miami, City of West Miami and Dade County - have worked out mutual aid agreements and another jurisdiction's rescue team would speed to your help if both Gables teams were occupied. But the Coral Gables department is striving, with overtime assistance, to keep a rescue team constantly available. "We are trying not to rob Peter to pay Paul," Gables Fire Chief Ralph Boartfield said. "We have been able to handle it so far. "We don't want to dilute services," the chief said. "So it's costing us overtime. On the last payroll, there was $300 in overtime pay." Under normal circumstances, with Randall Eastern in operation, the two Gables rescue teams transport patients to hospitals after administering first aid in only about five per cent of its calls. The rest of the time, Randall Eastern handles transportation. But April figures show that Coral Gables rescue teams transported patients on 68 per cent of the time and Boartfield expects that percentage to remain constant until the ambulance strike ends. Expressing its alarm at the long duration of the strike, the Board of Governors of the Dade County Fire Services Mutual Aid organization passed a resolution Wednesday, May 26, urging County Manager Ray Goode and the county commission to take rapid steps to speed the resolution of the strike. "Our situation hasn't changed much since the strike started," Boartfield said. "Our biggest problem is overtime, but we have rocked along. We just thought it had gone far enough now and the county should take some action." In West Miami, where the fire department has one rescue vehicle, Chief Eugene Goff explained that his usual five per cent transport load is up to 60 per cent. "We've enlarged our coverage area beyond West Miami to help Miami and Dade County during the strike," Goff said. "It's an experience for our people. Dade County and Miami are contributing manpower and are using our vehicle. We have not increased overtime, but we have had higher fuel and maintenance bills." Goff said that wear and tear on the equipment is far more than normal. "If there is a taxpayer on the street, we don't care if they are from our city or Miami or the county," he said. "If they need to go, we take them. If the Gables is completely tied up, they would get the closest unit into immediate action and that would be us. "If my rescue team is out, I get Dade County or Miami to cover," Goff said.

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