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.