Sports 1B
Spencer suspended for Busch
incident; Questions follow Tiger


Local 2A
Neighbors columns from
the Northwest, Hastings.


Index
2 SECTIONS, 24 PAGES
Classifieds ..............6B
Comics .................10A
Crossword ..............10B


Opinion .................. 8A
TV Listings ........... 10B
Nation ....................4A
Morning Brew.......... 11A
Obituaries ..............3A


Weather
HIGH: 87
60 percent chance
of thunderstorms
Winds SW-SE 10


THE ST. AUGUSTINE


504


TUESDAY AUGUST 19, 2003


SINCE 1894


www.staugustine.com


A STATUE called 'Queen Isabella on Horse-
back' was returned to the Hispanic Garden on
the corner of Hypolita and Cordova Streets
last week. The statue was made by Anna
Hyatt Huntington in 1961. By PETER WILLOTI,
peter.willott@staugustinerecord.com


A ROYAL



RETURN


Queen Isabella statue
re-installed in downtown
Hispanic Garden


By PETER GUINTA
peter.guinta@staugustinerecord.com


W" ahe bronze statue of Queen Isabella I
-a longtime centerpiece of the His-
panic Garden is back on its pedes-
L. tal.
The statue, cast by nationally known sculp-
tor Anna Hyatt Huntington in 1961, was given
by the artist as a gift to St. Augustine for its
quadricentennial celebration in 1965.
Bill Adams, director of the city's Historic
Preservation and Heritage'Tourism, said the
statue was removed three years ago because it
needed to be cleaned.
"Also, the St. Augustine Foundation (cur-
rent owner of the Hispanic Garden) was per-
forming an archaeological excavation of the
property," Adams said. "We pulled the statue
out until that was completed."
The sculpture depicts Isabella sitting on a
horse.
Queen of Castille from 1474 and queen of
Aragon after she married Ferdinand V in 1479,
she died in 1504. Her marriage united the two
kingdoms and led to the creation of modern
Spain.
Adams said another reason for her statue
to be removed from the garden was because
street performers on St. George Street often
camped out in the garden during the day, play-
ing music and selling handicrafts.
A fence has since been built by the foun-
dation to keep the property secured. Founda-
tion President William L. Proctor could not be
PLEASE SEE STATUE/2A


rtedl


keoff


Jet skids off runway; 2nd incident in a week


By BRYAN NOONAN
bryan.noonan@staugustinerecord.com


The St. Augustine-St. Johns
County Airport reopened Monday
night about 12 hours after a charter
jet aborted its takeoff when one of
its wheels began to skid, according
to Bryan Cooper, assistant airport
manager.
This was the second time in
less than a week that the main
runway had to be closed temporar-
ily while investigators probed dam-
aged planes.
Monday's accident involved a
Beechjet 400A running off the
runway about 7:15 a.m. on takeoff.
The first incident was the after-
noon of Aug. 14 when a Navy
E2C Hawkeye experienced compli-
cations during a landing and ran
off the southern end of the runway.
Cooper said 20 to 30 corporate
jets would have landed at the air-
port Monday if not for the acci-
dent. The runway was closed as
crews throughout the day assessed
the damage and how to remove the
plane, he said. It reopened at 7 p.m.
"It's just been one thing after
another," Cooper said.
The Beechjet, owned by Beech-
jet AC Expeditions, LLC from Jack-
sonville, was taking off on runway
1331 around 7:15 a.m. Monday when'
"something on the left wheel
prevented the wheel from turn-
ing," Cooper said. "It hadn't quite
reached its takeoff speed when he
aborted."
The wheel started to skid as the
plane was traveling at an estimated
120 mph, Cooper said. "They were
riding the right brake and trying
to steer back onto the runway," he
said, adding that the charter plane
was occupied by a pilot and co-
pilot flying to another airport. Nei-
ther were injured, he said.
A thick black skid mark veered
off into the grass along the runway
where the plane finally came to
rest. For a short distance before the
grass, a gray streak ran between the
black marks when the tire finally
deflated and the plane was running
on a bare wheel, Cooper said.
"Everything at this point points
to mechanical error," Cooper said.
The Federal Aviation Admin-
istration and National Transpor-
tation Safety Board (NTSB) were
investigating the accident, but the-
ories as to what went wrong were
still unknown Monday evening,
according to Tim Monville, air
safety investigator for NTSB in


A BEECHJET 400A executive jet skidded off the runway of the St.
Augustine-St. Johns County Airport when it developed a problem
with its left wheel during takeoff on Monday. The accident was the
second in five days when a U.S. Navy Hawkeye E2C came to a skid-
ding stop at the end of the same runway Aug. 14. By PETER WILLOTT,
peter ...iiil i''l ugJ lirereord corr, a


Miami.
Cooper said special parts were
needed to be brought in Monday
night to move the Beechjet. He esti-
mated the plane would be off the
runway by 3 a.m. today with the
assistance of lights powered by a
generator.
"We got to get the ru nway open,"
he said Monday afternoon. By the
time parts, materials and overtime
to clean up the accident is paid
for, "It's going to be a significant
amount ofmoney," he added.


The runway was closed for a
time Thursday when the Navy
Hawkeye skidded to a stop and
ended up in the grass on the south-
ern end of the runway after com-
plications during its landing. None
of the five people on board were
injured.
At 6 p.m. Monday, the Hawkeye
was finally being rolled into a
maintenance area on three dollies.
Cooper said crews would try to
sweep and vacuum the southern
PLEASE SEE PLANE/12A


States failing new test of child welfare system


By LAURA MECKLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER


WASHINGTON Not a single
state has passed a rigorous test of
its ability to protect children from
child abuse and to find permanent
homes for kids who often languish
in foster care.
The 32 states evaluated so far
could lose millions of dollars from
the federal government if they fail
to fix problems within a few years.
The problems of child welfare get
periodic attention, usually follow-
ing the tragic death of a child. The
Child and Family Service Reviews
are the first time federal officials
have tried to measure how well chil-
dren are faring across state systems
created to protect them but that
often fall short.


RELATED
* Graphic breakdown of how states
are doing. Page 12A

The reviews ask whether chil-
dren are bouncing from one foster
home to the next, never able to put
down roots; whether siblings taken
from their parents are kept together
or pulled apart; whether it takes a
state too long to finalize adoptions
or to send children back to their
biological parents.
Affected are nearly 550,000 chil-
dren in foster care and an estimated
half million others living at home
but under state supervision.
"There is a lot of work to be
done," said Joan Ohl, commissioner
of the Administration for Children,
Youth and Families. "It's a daunting


task."
In the past, states were evaluated
on bureaucratic benchmarks. Now,
the questions are how many chil-
dren are abused again after enter-
ing the system and whether parents
are getting promised help.
The reviews merge dozens of
questions into seven "outcomes"
measurements.
Fourteen states have failed all


seven. An additional 14, plus the
District of Columbia, have failed six
of the seven, and four states failed
five. No state has passed more than
two.
"We set a very high bar and we
don't apologize for that bar," Ohl
said in an interview.
Problems were found in every
state:
PLEASE SEE WELFARE/12A


Airport


Authority



making



push to


get land


Araquay Park
residents target of
expansion plans

By MICHAEL REED
-mike.reed@staugustinerecord.com
During past 15 years
Araquay Park has been slowly
consumed by the St. Augus-
tine-St.Johns County Airport,
and now the Airport Author-
ity is moving to acquire the
remaining lots.
Board members directed
staff on Monday to develop
funding options and zoning
issues and present them and at
a meeting scheduled for Aug.
25 at 3:30 p.m. Araquay Park is
immediately south of the air-
port, and the authority wants
the land so it can build more
hangars and expand.
"The airport's property
resources are quite limited
now," said Ed Wuellner, exec-
utive director of the author-
ity.
In previous years, some res-
idents of the neighborhood
protested the idea of selling
their homes. But there was no
objection from the residents
at the meeting Monday. Many
people have indicated they are
willing to sell, Wuellner said.
The authority owns about
75 percent of the lots, Wuellner
said. Araquay Park has about
55 lots remaining owned by
about 20 different people, he
said.
The neighborhood runs the
lengths of Indian Bend,
Araquay Avenue and Estrella
Avenue off U.S. 1 South. The
authority currently rents the
houses it owns to people.
Board Member Jack
Gorman said he didn't want
the current board to leave a
rental legacy to the next board.
Hewanted to move ahead with
the acquisitions.
Other members had similar
thoughts, but Board Member
Joe Ciriello said he didn't
think the authority should
have begun the process of
acquiring the lots years ago.
"I just don't think this is a
good idea, but there's nothing
I can do about it," he said.
Last week Gorman said the
property should be developed
for hangars in the most envi-
ronmentally sensitive way pos-
sible.
The remaining property to
be acquired has a market value
of $2.6 million, but it will prob-
ably cost the authority $5 mil-
lion, Wuellner said.
The Florida Department of
Transportation is scheduled to
give the authority $2.5 million
in grants over three years, and
the airport can borrow money,
he said.
The authority can also go
through eminent domain pro-
ceedings to force holdouts to
sell their property
PLEASE SEE AIRPORTI12A


COMMUNITY
\\'ednesday: Tug of war at


LJ2J XL L LAJIi St. Augustine Beach
LOTTERY CASH 3 1-0-6 PLAY 4


FOOD
Thursday: Add sweet note to Frid
cooking with apple juice
1-6-8-5 FANTASY 5 16-2-30-11-3


RELIGION
ay: Pastor signs major
recording contract

S29562 0001 9


Inside
NATION
* Midwest power swings detected hours before blackout, 4A
* Poll finds majority of people favor law against gay marriages, 5A
* Liberian government, rebels sign peace deal, 6A
* Inquiry called for in U.S. shooting of journalist in Iraq, 7A


%;9.
;ii


upkooPT)


JL