Royal Flush

A gold-plated plumbing caper

The order submitted in January to Miami's Bond Plumbing Supply Inc. seemed fit for King Louis XIV: a custom-made sunken bathtub, a sink with 24-karat gold-plated faucets, pastel blue toi lets, a "harvest gold" bidet with chrome-plated trim, even a portable Jacuzzi. But when Carol Cherrey, office manager and taxpayer, saw the name on the $8,934 or der, she said she "blew my stack." The deluxe fixtures were ostensibly ordered for a vocational instruction class at MacArthur South High School. Yet MacArthur, a school for 235 troubled youths, had no plumbing class.

Cherrey angrily called the school board's purchasing department, which canceled the order. The board began an investigation into what Miami's newspapers soon dubbed "the gold-plated plumb ing caper." The elaborate fixtures had been picked out by MacArthur Principal Solomon Barnes, 36, although a salesman at the plumbing-supply house claims he had tried to get him to buy cheaper items. Johnny Jones, 46, superintendent of schools for the 225,000-pupil Dade Coun ty system, fifth largest in the nation, approved the purchase as a "special needs" requisition, which took it out of normal channels of review. On the records, the material was listed as "basketball uni forms and equipment." Principal Barnes maintained that he had been planning to start a plumb ing class in the high school. Jones added: "It's not unusual for a principal to look for the best quality, even if it does cost more." But state investigators discovered that both Jones and Barnes were build ing new houses. The contractor for Jones' $121,000 weekend retreat in Naples, 100 miles away, disclosed that seven weeks ago, the superintendent had ordered construction changes that could accommodate the luxury plumbing.

Blacks protested that authorities were moving too hastily against Jones, the first black superintendent in Dade County his tory, and Barnes, who is also black. But last week both were suspended from their jobs without pay and indicted for second-degree grand theft. They plan to plead not guilty. If convicted, they face maximum penalties of five years in prison and $10,000 fines. Jones, who had hitherto received high marks from the school board, and Barnes, an educator for twelve years, may also face the prospect of careers go ing down the drain.

After the indictments, a fire gutted the Fort Lauderdale showroom of Bond Plumbing Supply, the firm whose office manager had blown the whistle on the operation. Fort Lauderdale Fire Captain Stanley Janson said that the blaze was set by arsonists.

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