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  • Man who killed wife, niece, self also killed mother in 1971
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  • Tourism suffers across Florida after pummeling by hurricanes
  • Key dates in the life of Terri Schiavo
  • An excerpt from the unanimous ruling in the Schiavo case
  • Four confirmed dead after small plane crash in Panhandle
  • Correction: Disney-Cruise Line story
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    Florida briefs

    By Compiled from Times wires

    © St. Petersburg Times, published September 26, 2000


    Boy dies after fall from tree impales him on fishing spear

    LAKE WORTH -- A 7-year-old boy playing in a park died after he fell from a tree and was impaled on a piece of a fishing spear sticking up from the ground.

    Jason Feldman died Sunday after he was removed from life support at Delray Beach Medical Center. He had been kept alive since Saturday's accident because his family wanted his organs donated for transplant.

    Jason, a first-grader, had gone to Bryant Park with a youth group from Lake Worth Baptist Church and had climbed about 8 feet up a tree, police said. He fell and the piece of spear penetrated his eye, lodging in his brain.

    Police don't know who stuck the spear in the ground. The park is near a popular fishing area. Lake Worth is about 10 miles south of West Palm Beach.

    Neighbors described Jason as a sweet child who lived with his mother, who is a waitress and college student, and an 11-year-old brother.

    "He's the kind of kid that when you see him, you think of an angel," said Sherry Davenport, manager of the apartment complex where Jason's family lives.

    "He wasn't allowed to go anywhere," neighbor Sherie Cruz said. "Then, when his mother lets him go with a church group to a park ..." she said, her voice trailing off.

    Priest answers plea for help, then robber helps himself

    MILTON -- A man who rang the doorbell at the rectory of St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church said he needed help, then pulled out a gun and robbed the priest.

    "This is a robbery," the gunman told the Rev. Thom Crandall after the priest let him inside about 9 p.m. Saturday.

    "At first I thought it was a joke, because he was so calm," Crandall said Sunday. "My heart was racing, and I'm still shaken up about the whole episode."

    The robber took the Saturday evening collection, some money Crandall had saved, and a collection of coins and old bills printed in the 1860s.

    "He had me take the shoelaces out of my shoes and tied my hands, then he left," Crandall said. "He said, "I'm going to tie you up because I don't trust you.' "

    The priest freed his hands and called 911.

    Police searched for gunman on Monday. They would not say how much was stolen.

    Crandall, 45, who came to Milton two years ago after 13 years in Port St. Joe, used the experience as part of his sermon at Sunday's three Masses. He urged parishioners to pray for the robber.

    "It's a shame something like this has to happen to shake people up and make them realize what is really important in life," Crandall said.

    "It could be easy to say this is just another indication of how people act and to give up on people altogether, but we can't do that."

    Hacker cracks Disney World file of guest information

    LAKE BUENA VISTA -- A hacker broke into a computer system at Walt Disney World last week where hundreds of guest names, addresses and mug shots are available, a company spokesman said Monday.

    The hacker broke into a computer system used by the Leave a Legacy exhibit at Epcot. At the exhibit, guests pay up to $38 each to have images of themselves placed on a granite monument to commemorate the theme park resort's millennium celebration.

    A letter explaining the computer break-in was sent out to the 1,200 guests whose names, addresses and photos may have been accessed by the hacker, said Disney spokesman Bill Warren.

    No other personal information, such as credit card numbers or Social Security numbers, were available to the hacker, Warren said.

    The FBI was investigating.

    "What the person was able to get access to was relatively small data," Warren said.

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