TALLAHASSEE -- The presidents of Florida's 11 universities, along with representatives of the state's 28 community colleges and 27 private colleges, spoke Tuesday against a ballot measure that could force the state to lower class sizes in public schools.

Like Gov. Jeb Bush and other opponents, the officials said they supported smaller class sizes but didn't believe a mandate should be put in the state Constitution.

Doing so would drain money from other education programs, including colleges and universities, as well as other vital services such as health care, they warn.

If approved by voters, the proposal would limit class size to 18 students in kindergarten through third grade, 22 in fourth through eighth grades and 25 in high school. The caps would phase in between 2003 and 2010.

Polls have found broad voter support of the proposal.

Write-in foe's exit ensures Sen. Clary's re-election

FORT WALTON BEACH -- State Sen. Charlie Clary, R-Destin, is headed for re-election because his only challenger in the general election, a write-in candidate, is quitting the race.

Chuck Bolton, a Fort Walton Beach businessman, said Monday he was leaving Clary unopposed in District 4, which hugs the Gulf of Mexico in the Panhandle from Pensacola to Panama City.

Bolton said he accomplished the purpose of his campaign by bringing attention to his complaint that traditional Christianity is being shunned at schools, colleges and elsewhere in society.

"I thought there was an important issue that wasn't being discussed," Bolton said. "There's nothing to be gained beyond this point. I was running for an issue, not against Charlie Clary."

Clary defeated state Rep. Jerry Melvin, R-Fort Walton Beach, in the primary Sept. 10.

Man facing sex charges reported missing in gulf

PANAMA CITY BEACH -- A man scheduled for a court appearance on sex charges Tuesday is missing, having vanished the day before in what friends say was a boating mishap.

Investigators called the disappearance Monday of Steven W. Haun, 32, of nearby Laguna Beach, suspicious. Haun was to appear at a pretrial hearing in Circuit Court Tuesday on two counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition and failing to register as a sexual predator.

Four friends who said they joined Haun for a predawn ride aboard his 25-foot boat reported him missing Monday near the pass that connects the bay and gulf.

They told Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigators Haun was riding behind the boat on an inflatable tube when they lost sight of him. "They went back and found his life jacket unbuckled and floating near the pass," commission Lt. Stan Kirkland said. "They looked for him for some time and notified us around 4:30 a.m."

A Bay County sheriff's helicopter and a 41-foot Coast Guard boat joined Conservation Commission officers in a search that continued Tuesday.

Investigators also were talking to witnesses about other circumstances, including the abrupt closing last week of Haun's mother's pizza business, where he worked.

Elsewhere . . .

POST-ISIDORE ASSISTANCE: Gov. Jeb Bush asked the federal government for emergency assistance to help Panhandle counties hit by Tropical Storm Isidore last month. The money would go to Escambia, Santa Rosa, Walton, Okaloosa, Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gulf, Holmes and Jackson counties to make up the cost of debris clearance and emergency response.

* * *

10 YEARS' PRISON FOR HIT-RUN: A man who killed two ROTC students in a hit-and-run accident outside a Jacksonville nightclub in December was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Marcus Sparks, 27, ran his car into a group of people, killing Darien Evan Dolan, 24, and Jerome Allen Mosher, 28. Three others were injured. All were ROTC students at Jacksonville University.

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk