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In the Know: Is that Benson guy still in prison?

By TIM ATEN (Contact)
9:59 p.m., Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Florida Department of Corrections

Steven Benson, now 56, has been in prison for more than 20 years.

ERIC STRACHAN

Steven Benson is led into the Collier County jail complex on the day of his arrest in 1985.

STORY TOOLS

Anniversary recalls notorious crime

Find a complete archive of our "In the Know" questions!

Q: Having grown up here in lil’ ol’ Naples, Florida, I was only about 11 years old in July of 1985, but I remember vividly the pipe bomb murders in the Quail Creek subdivision carried out by Steven Benson which killed his mother and brother. Is that guy still in prison? Just curious.

- Erik Mogelvang, Naples

A: Steven Benson, now 56, has been in prison for more than 20 years. He is in close custody in the Okeechobee Correctional Institution serving consecutive life sentences for two counts of first-degree murder, and additional time for attempted murder and arson.

In 1986, Benson was found guilty of planting two pipe bombs that blew up the family’s Suburban in the driveway of their Naples home, killing his mother and adopted brother, and severely burning his sister. His adopted brother was his nephew, his sister's son who his mother adopted.

Money was the motive. Margaret Benson, Steven’s mother, was heiress to the multi-million-dollar Lancaster, Pa., Leaf Tobacco Co., not Benson & Hedges as widely misreported.

Benson has been far from the model inmate, transferred from prison to prison at least five times. Once he was even stabbed by another inmate and transferred for his own safety.

Q: I’ve recently noticed more and more gas pumps in Southwest Florida with a sign saying something like “10% ethanol.” Will this fuel hurt my car and why so many signs now?

- C.C., North Naples

A: Most of the signs actually read, “Contains 10% or less ethanol,” which means that unleaded gasoline has been blended with as much as 10 percent ethanol, an alcohol-like oxygenate produced from corn, soybeans, sugar cane and other crops. Gasohol, or E-10, as this gasoline-ethanol blend is called, is sold at area Hess stations, among others.

Florida is pushing its “Farm to Fuel” initiative in an effort to eventually reduce gasoline consumption by hundreds of millions of gallons each year through the addition of 10 percent ethanol, an alternative and renewable fuel. The idea being that blending ethanol with gasoline benefits the environment by burning cleaner than gasoline and reducing harmful emissions.

“A 10 percent blend is perfectly safe for your car,” said Shawn Martini, spokesman for the Colorado Farm Bureau. “E-85, an 85 percent ethanol blend, is only safe for a flex-fuel rated vehicle.”

You can use the 10 percent ethanol blended fuels anywhere you use regular unleaded fuel, the state of Florida reports. The use of E-10 is approved under warranty by every major automaker in the world. In older cars, especially those made prior to 1975, the cleansing action of E-10 may require replacing a clogged fuel filter initially.

All motor fuels sold in Florida, including those containing ethanol, are required to meet fuel quality standards adopted by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to ensure proper vehicle performance. Recent changes specifically target fuel quality standards for gasoline blended with 10 percent or less ethanol, taking into account the effect ethanol has on the properties of gasoline when the two are mixed.

But because emissions studies have not proven that blends higher than this, such as E-20 or even E-85, are safe yet, stations are posting signs to simply let consumers know that their gas contains no more than 10 percent ethanol.

List of South Florida gas stations with E-10: http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/standard/petro/South_Fla_Alt_Sites.htm

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Tim Aten is chief online editor of the Daily News. E-mail questions with your name and city of residence to intheknow@naplesnews.com.

Find a complete archive of “In the Know” at naplesnews.com/intheknow/

Comments

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Ethanol reduces the mileage you can get! Good old Gov. Crist aka the great one...well he want us to be GREEN so he and some others pushed the ethanol deal. Just wait, you will pay even more at the pump since the corn used to produce this "greener" fuel is mostly underwater in the midwest flooding and you will smile and say thank you when the costs continue to go up as the revenue from the fuel taxes goes up too.

Good column Tim. Always interesting.

#1 Posted by BlueTonguedVole on June 17, 2008 at 10:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)

What about all this sugar cane we are polluting the Everglades with? The govt has subsidized this disaster for years to keep Castro out of the sugar market, but if we are going to pollute the Everglades, shouldn't we be harvesting the sugar cane for fuel?

#2 Posted by swamp4u2 on June 17, 2008 at 10:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)

" Boom boom Benson"!

#3 Posted by biomanogt on June 18, 2008 at 6:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Okay, so I would think that if I'm paying almost $4 a gallon for fuel without ethanol, shouldn't I be paying less for fuel that is not 100%? I've seen these signs too, but I'm paying the same price as the gas that doesn't have it. On the Benson story, that was way before I lived here but I've heard about it and that was crazy.

#4 Posted by MIAbrat on June 18, 2008 at 7:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I refuse to put the ethanol in my truck, it eventually will take its toll on your engine

#5 Posted by grouper25 on June 18, 2008 at 7:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)

ethanol is a sham. The cost to produce it is both fiscally and environmentally irresponsible. While I agree that we need to find ways to wean ourselves off oil, ethanol is NOT the way to go.

#6 Posted by teachurkids on June 18, 2008 at 8:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Is Stevie wearing the same glasses as he was 20 years ago when he was admitted to prison? The fashion police should add 10 years to his sentence.

#7 Posted by Nagator on June 18, 2008 at 8:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I was in high school when that happened and I remember going by the sheriff's department impound lot and looking at the blown up Suburban. It was pretty wild.

#8 Posted by NaplesCracker on June 18, 2008 at 9:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Ethanol is a sham. It takes 1 BTU of energy to create 1.14 BTUs of ethanol energy. Where does the first BTU come from? Oil and coal in most cases.

While the use of E-85 causes no noticeable decline in one's vehicle performance, this fuel does not contain the same BTUs as gasoline. As a result, if you use E-85, you will experience a 25 to 30 percent reduction in fuel economy.

The use of E-10 also gives a reduction in fuel economy. (You do the math)

#9 Posted by freedomsailor on June 18, 2008 at 9:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)

If somebody living in Golden Gate commited the same crime, Benson was convicted of, they would have gotten the death penalty. Being rich has it's rewards.

#10 Posted by Ironside on June 18, 2008 at 10:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Ironside, Boy you've got that right!

#11 Posted by BignRich on June 18, 2008 at 11:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I don't know if you could call 2 consecutive life sentences a "reward".
I would think removing him from the previous life of luxury and placing him in a cold jail cell for the rest of his life would really be more punishment. Just my thought.

#12 Posted by Native on June 18, 2008 at 11:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Yes, Benson' atty, Micheal McDonald did a super job...few attys ever get & complete such opportunity..a killer is a killer but navigating the courts is another matter...in civil matters, you have to get a politically connected atty or suffer with the riff raff...

#13 Posted by Trexler on June 18, 2008 at 12:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Thanks freedomsailor, You had the details, I had only remembered the concepts.

How long before the general public realizes what a sham ethanol is?

#14 Posted by BlueTonguedVole on June 18, 2008 at 12:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)

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