The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 22

THE BOSTON GLOBE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 1997 TOUCHING MOMENT Children gather around Curious George during the dedication yesterday of the Rey Children's Room at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square. The late Margret and H.A. Rey were the creators of the popular literary character. Margret Rey, who died in December, donated $1 million to the library in her and her late husband's name last May. GLOBE STAFF PHOTO DAVID L.

RYAN Witness says accused killer knew beforehand transsexual was male CAMBRIDGE A Watertown man on trial for killing a transsexual By William F. Doherty GLOBE STAFF allegedly after discovering he was a male knew the victim's gender beforehand, according to the victim's twin brother. Gabriel Pickett told a Middlesex Superior Court jury yesterday that the defendant, William C. Palmer, called Roman Pickett "the best preop he had ever seen" on the night of the murder. Roman Pickett was awaiting a THE LOTTERY TUESDAY number 3734 TUESDAY PAYOFFS (based on $1 bet) EXACT ORDER All 4 digits $4,126 First or last 3 $578 Any 2 digits $50 Any 1 digit $5 ANY ORDER All 4 digits $344 First 3 digits $193 Last 3 digits $96 MASS MILLIONS April 21: 2 3 5 24 34 37 (Bonus ball 25) Jackpot: There was no jackpot winner.

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Call for details. sex change operation when he was killed. His twin brother Gabriel who is also a transsexual testified for the prosecution at Palmer's murder trial. Palmer, a 35-year-old computer programmer, is charged with killing Pickett in November 1995 in Palmer's Watertown apartment. Gabriel Pickett's testimony contradicts Palmer's taped statement to police.

Palmer told them he didn't know Roman Pickett was a man until they arrived home in Watertown. Under questioning by prosecutor Adrienne C. Lynch, Gabriel Pickett told the jury he and his brother met Palmer at the Playland Cafe, a gay bar on the edge of Boston's Combat Zone. He said Palmer gave them a ride to the brothers' home in Chelsea where they snorted cocaine, then Palmer and Roman Pickett left for Palmer's apartment in Watertown. In his taped statement to police, Palmer said 1 he didn't know Roman Pickett was a man until after they arrived at his apartment.

When he found out, Palmer said, he told Pickett, "This isn't going to happen." "That's when she flipped out," Palmer told police in the statement, which was played earlier at the trial. "She went ballistic. Her voice completely changed. Now I was listening to a man's voice." To keep Pickett quiet, Palmer said, he put his hand over Pickett's In his taped statement to police, the accused said he didn't know the victim was a man until after they arrived at his apartment. mouth, but Pickett bit his finger and would not let go even when he grabbed Pickett's throat with his other hand.

Palmer told detectives he hit Pickett with "a quick jab" to the jaw, and "finally, she loosened up." After the scuffle, Palmer said he sat on Pickett for 10 minutes, then went to bed. When he woke up, he said, Pickett was dead. "She was definitely breathing before I went to bed," Palmer said in the statement. "I turned the body over and it was the scariest thing I seen in my life. I don't know what happened.

She might have even I don't know. All I know is that jab did not do it." Watching Comet Hale-Bopp Marco Pavese and Francesca Lucentini took this picture of Comet Hale-Bopp in Neuchwastein, Italy, on Saturday night. The landscape was illuminated by moonlight. When to look: From about 8:30 Where to look: Northwest. Boston area forecast for tonight: Latest word from observers: The to unchanged for the least 10 degrees long the width However, the full moon will drown tonight and prevent viewers from By tomorrow or Friday, when viewing should be much better, drive as far as possible from city glory.

Reports so far indicate it expected, and it should remain May. In its high-stakes face-off with a rival movie theater chain, National Amusements Inc. apparently decided to build some quick community support by offering the town of Randolph a $300,000 gift to spend however it wants. The unusual payment came to light as National Amusements and Hoyts Cinemas continued a legal duel over their plans to open competing 16-screen movie complexes in the neighboring towns of Randolph and Stoughton. As planned, the entrances to the two complexes would be just 400 yards apart.

Both Hoyts and National Amusements say they are committed to building their theaters, although neither firm is likely to turn a profit if both complexes are showing the same films. What sets this Hollywood-style grudge match apart is the eagerness of the two host communities to duke it out. National Amusements initially wanted to build in Stoughton, but when Hoyts prevailed there, National Amusements went down the street to Randolph. Randolph quickly rezoned the nursery site National Amusements wanted and sued Stoughton to block the Hoyts project. The $300,000 gift to Randolph, on top of the $200,000 in extra tax revenue the proposed movie complex would generate every year, may help explain the town's aggressive support for National Amusements.

Sanford M. Matathia, an attorney representing National Amusements, revealed the $300,000 gift in a letter to state Environmental Secretary Trudy Coxe. "These funds will be donated to the town's general treasury and thereby made available for any purpose which the town may deem appropriate," he wrote. "The modest impacts of the proposed cinema, in combination with the substantial community benefits enabled by National Amusements' donation to the town, has engendered strong local support for this Curiously, National Amusements apparently has not informed Randolph of the planned $300,000 gift. Paul Connors, executive secretary in Randolph, said there had been some talk about a payment of an undetermined amount but the town has received nothing in writing.

"That's news to me," he said of the $300,000. He said no other developer had ever given such a gift to the town. Officials at National Amusements declined comment. It is unclear whether the chain gives similar gifts to other host communities. Such gifts are legal.

Terry Conroy, co-developer of the Stoughton Technology Center, where Hoyts wants to build its 16- screen complex, said the $300,000 gift was very unusual. He said he assumes the money will be used to defray the costs of Randolph's participation in the movie feud. "I knew they were paying the legal bills for Randolph somehow," he said. National Amusements eluded one potentially crippling challenge to its theater complex yesterday, as state environmental officials said they would not require a time-consuming environmental review of the Randolph project. Stoughton officials had requested the environmental review, fearing the juxtaposition of two theater complexes so close together would result in a traffic nightmare along Route 139.

They had also raised concerns about the relative scarcity of parking at the Randolph site, just 890 spaces for the complex. In his decision, Jan H. Reitsma, an undersecretary of environmental affairs, said he appreciated Stoughton's traffic concerns and noted parking availability at the Randolph site was well below the level usually proposed by National Amusements. But he said the state lacked jurisdiction to intervene. p.m.

to 11 p.m. Mostly cloudy. comet is still shining at magnitude last two weeks. Its tail is still at of a fist held at arm's length. out much of the comet's light seeing the full extent of the tail.

the moon is out of the way, the and it will again be worthwhile to lights to see the comet in its full is fading more slowly than easy to see at least through early.