lobik murder trial day one
TRANSCRIPT
Walk. Run. Swim. Pick an event and get out there. Sports, Page 4
pinellas.tampabay.com Wednesday, July 23, 2008 CLWCLEARWATER
BLOCKBUSTERTHIEF STILL FREE;POLICE NEED TIPSA robber with a knife hand-cuffed the manager of aBlockbuster video storeduring a holdup Tuesdaymorning, police said. The25-year-old manager,whose name theTimes iswithholding because therobber has not been caught,was unlocking the store at2045 Gulf-to-Bay Blvd. about9:30 a.m. when the robberforced him inside, lockedthe door, handcuffed himand put him in a back roomwhile the robber tried to getinto a safe. Investigatorsthink the robber may havehad some “indirect contact”with customers at the frontdoor because the businesswas scheduled to open at10 a.m. The robber removedthe handcuffs before fleeingwith an undisclosed amountof money. The managercalled police at 10:44 a.m.Police described the robberas a clean-shaved blackman 22 to 26 years old,standing about 6 feet, 2inches tall, weighing 175 to180 pounds and wearing hishair in a short Afro about aninch to an inch and a halflong. He was wearing a bluedress shirt and khaki or graypants. Police ask anyonewith information about therobbery to call their tip line at(727) 562-4422.
M I D P I N E L L A S
Man, 78, accusedof soliciting minors Pinellas County sheriff’sdeputies Thursday arresteda 78-year-old mental health
counselor,accusing himof arrangingfor the sexualabuse of twochildren.Charles J.Friedlanderof Fort Myers
was charged with seductionof a child using the Internetand traveling to meet aminor. Friedlander used anInternet chat room to solicitanother person to engage inphysical and sexual abuseof two boys, ages 10 and11, according to an arrestreport. Friedlander waschatting with an undercoverinvestigator who playedthe role of the boys’ parent.Friedlander was arrestedMonday after driving toan unspecified locationin Pinellas to carry out theplan and bringing alongunspecified “implements”of physical abuse, officialssaid. His arrest culminateda monthlong investiga-tion by the Pinellas CountySheriff’s Office and FloridaDepartment of Law Enforce-ment. Friedlander, who wasreleased from jail Tuesdayafter posting $20,000 bail,could not be reached forcomment Tuesday.
TARPON SPRINGS
SCORE with a freebusiness seminarThinking about startinga small business? Mem-bers of the Service Corpsof Retired Executives areoffering a free seminar on“Ten Steps to Starting Your
In the
know
Friedlander
BY SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADATimes Correspondent
The Belleair Causeway Bridge
— a major route to the gulf beaches — will be completely
closed to traffic Saturday in a
move that officials say couldsignificantly reduce the time
The causeway will close at 7
p.m. Saturday and will reopento traffic 24 hours later at 7 p.m.
Sunday , when motorists will bedriving over the north half of the
new relief bridge.
The complete closure was pro-posed by the project contractor
struction time as short as possible,
keep workers and motorists saferduring construction, and reduce
the number of lane closures that would otherwise have been neces-
sary to complete construction of
the new relief bridge.” When completed, the $72.2-
The north side of the bridge
will have several floating docksand a new water access area for
vehicles that is ideal for loading.The 300- by 28-foot water access
area will be laid with articulated
block, allowing grass to grow through for a more natural envi-
end bents have been erected,
and the last 30 feet of the eastapproach are nearly finished.
Work on the northern half of therelief bridge, including slabs, is
wrapping up.
“The project is on time and on budget.”
The idea is to decrease future one-lane closures during construction.
Belleair Causewayto close for 24 hours
JIM DAMASKE | T imes
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. Whenfinished, 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.
. BY THE NUMBERS
1.5 miles Total project length
2,748,741 Pounds of reinforcing steel
21,937 Cubic yards of concrete
3,350 feet Length of main bridge
100 feet Horizontal navigational clearance
Land sales may go to votersThe County Commission plans a meeting Aug. 5on a charter change to protect sensitive preserves.
BY THERESA BLACKWELLTimes Staff Writer
CLEARWATER — Pinellas
County commissioners moved
closer Tuesday to giving votersthe authority to kill any future
sales of the county’s environmen-
tal lands.The commission voted to hold
a public hearing Aug. 5 on a pro-posed charter amendment that
would be on the ballot in Novem-
ber.If approved by voters, it would
require a referendum any time
county officials wanted to sell,convey or transfer more than
1 acre of the county’s environ-
mental lands. At that Aug. 5 hearing, com-
missioners could decide whether
to go forward with the amend-ment.
“Hopefully, this will pass andthis conversation can be put to
rest once and for all,” Commis-
sioner Susan Latvala said.Latvala first proposed an ordi-
nance to protect park and envi-
ronmental lands after an uproarfrom environmentalists about
projects the county had pro-
posed in the Brooker Creek Pre-serve. But last year the commis-
sion scrapped the ordinance in
favor of a charter amendment.If the amendment is passed as
now written, county commission-ers would have to ask the voters for
approval before disposing of more
than an acre of any environmen-. See LANDS, 4
ATOYIA DEANS | Times
Brooker Creek is home to many flowers, includingNymphaea odorata, commonly known as the American white water lily.
“Ten Steps to Starting YourOwn Business” from 7 to 9p.m. July 29 at the TarponSprings Library, 138 E LemonSt. Registration is requested.Materials and handouts willbe provided. To sign up, callthe library at (727) 943-4922.
Pinellas deathsApergis, 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.
needed to complete constructionof the new bridge.
“We are closing the causeway
to shift traffic to the north sideof the newly constructed relief
bridge,” said Tony Horrnik, proj-
ect manager for the PinellasCounty public works department.
to reduce future traffic delayscaused by construction.
“While this closure is a tem-
porary inconvenience, it will sig-nificantly decrease the need for
future one-lane closures on the
relief bridge,” Horrnik said. “The24-hour closure will keep con-
million, fixed span bridge willrise about 75 feet above the Intra-
coastal Waterway.
The project includes severalpublic leisure enhancements:
water access, docks, a recon-
structed boat ramp facility, a dog beach and parking.
ronment. A new parking area will be
constructed on the east side of
the causeway, next to the future bait house concession.
“The project is now about 50
percent completed,” Horrnik said. “All 30 piers and the two
Construction of one-quarterof a mile of the road is using an
innovative incremental launch
method, the first to be used on a concrete structure. Horrnik lik-
ens it to a slow rocket launch.
The bridge is scheduled toopen in the fall of 2009.
BY JACKIE ALEXANDERTimes Staff Writer
The original medical examiner who
did the autopsy on the victim has been
dead for 20 years. The supervisingpolice officer has retired to a cabin in
Montana. And the primary officer now works somewhere else.
But those who know the case best
came to a Pinellas County courtroomTuesday to testify at the trial of a man
Largo police spent 18 years investigat-ing before arresting.
And although it has been two
decades since Susan Heyliger died,
her relatives filled nearly three rows of seats behind the prosecutors’ table.
The night of June 7, 1987, Hey-
liger, 42, was cleaning up after clos-ing the Country Club Lounge on East
Bay Drive. Unknown to her, someone was hiding in the ceiling above the
men’s bathroom. He hit her, strangled
her and slit her throat, authorities say, before getting away with $600.
Two years later, Largo police founda prime suspect, Jeffrey Lobik, now
41. He had been drinking at the bar
that night. He had no alibi for the
early morning hours. His tennisshoes matched a shoe print found at
the scene. And his criminal record
included a charge of burglary.But it would take another 16 years
and a slipup in his story before Lobik was arrested, officials said.
At first, Lobik consistently denied
that he was in the crawl space. Whenquestioned in 2004, however, Lobik
told a detective he had gone into thecrawl space to smoke crack that night.
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.
. See SLAYING, 4
JIM DAMASKE | Ti mes
Jeffrey Lobik, 41, is on trial in the 1987 murderof Susan Heyliger, whose throat was slit, at theCountry Club Lounge in Largo.