St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 3

Dunn in ST.LOUIS POST- DISPATCH July 30, 1974 3A 'Numbers' Legal: Illinois Selling Lottery Tickets By DONALD E. FRANKLIN Of the Post-Dispatch Staff During the days of the Depression, the numbers game offered a ray of hope the big-city poor, or so they thought. Many of the unemployed and destitute looked forward to scoring "hits" that paid from $5 to $1000. lot of people made their living gambling on numbers and writing policy," recalled Mrs. Ethel Geter, who described herself as onetime "policy writer" on the East Side.

Mrs. Geter, a deeply religious woman, not written a policy number in nearly 30 years. But beginning today she will sell her first legitimate as an agent for the Illinois State Lottery. Lottery tickets officially go on sale today at 7500 outlets throughout the state. They are priced at 50 cents each.

The first drawing is set for Aug. 8. Mrs. Geter, 58 years old, is a clerk in Hudlin's Pharmacy, 833 Mousette Lane, Centreville. The drug store is one of 235 businesses in St.

Clair and Madison counties authorized to sell lottery tickets. The lottery consists of three separate lotto," with prizes from $20 to $5000; "the bonanza," with prizes from $1000 to $300,000, and "the millionaire game," with prizes from $1500 to $1,000,000. One ticket is good for all three games. Lottery officials estimate that from 5000 to 25,000 ticket holders get weekly cash prizes. But the odds on winning $20 have been placed at 200-to-1; the odds on winning $300,000 are A $1,000,000 winner will be selected at intervals of about six weeks, depending on the number of tickets sold.

The odds on becoming a millionaire are 30,000,000 to 1. The new millionaires will be paid 000 a year for the next 20 years; $300,000 winners will be paid $20,000 a year for years, and $100,000 winners will receive $10,000 a year for 10 years. "The way people are asking about tickets," Mrs. Geter said, "I think it will go over better than it did in the old days. Even customers from St.

Louis want to play." Mrs. Geter began her career in the numbers game in 1936. Her job was to sit behind a cage in an East St. Louis barber shop in the 1500 block of Broadway and take in nickels and dimes from players. "Most everybody in the neighborhood played," she recalled.

"Some people would send their children the barber shop with a note and a nickel." In most metropolitan areas, the numbers racket was operated by organized crime groups. But Mrs. Geter said the games on the East Side had been operated by persons respected in community. The biggest game on the Bond Hints He'll Back Higher Interest Limit By ROY MALONE Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Gov. Christopher S.

Bond has given a strong indication that he will support legislation to amend the state's usury law, which now sets an interest limit of per cent. Bond has told Alfred E. Sikes, his former campaign manager and now director of the Department of Licensing, to prepare legislation to change the usury law. And the calling of a special session late this year to consider the usury issue has not been ruled out by the Governor. Bond is under pressure by savings and loan associations, banks and real estate interests to call a special session.

Until now, he has said he has no plans to do so. That position apparently still holds until the general election, Nov. the usury bill is considered too controversial an item for an election year. However, it has been learned that Bond has left the door open to the possibility of a special session after Nov. 5.

Bond has rejected suggestions that he add special session to the end of a short session in September, when legislators will meet to consider bills vetced by the Governor. In addition to the political dangers of such a pre-election session, Bond is said to be reluctant with some appointments he will have pending before the Senate. In the last session of the Legislature, a bill to increase the interest rate died in the House. Bond took no stand on the bill. Instead, he appointed a study committee, which recommended increasing the limit.

Bond's office then drafted a number of questions still to be answered, most dealing with the effect of higher interest rates on consumers. Prime interest rates -the rates charged by banks tc best corporate customers have bean climbing, steadily since last spring their current level of 12 per cent. William R. Kostman, state finance commissioner, has been in favor of a floating interest Store Price Of Fish May Dip Temporarily By CONNIE ROSENBAUM Of the Post-Dispatch Staff The fish market, which operates in cycles like most other food commodities, is about to take a plunge. But the price dive will not be as low or as long as most consumers would prefer.

Fish wholesalers in the St. Louis area said they were paying only about 60 cents a pound for cod blocks (small pieces of cod compressed into blocks, frozen into meal-size portions). They paid closer to 85 cents a pound several months ago. That means that frozen cod, which costs about $1.15 a pound in the store today, soon will drop to 90 cents a pound. But as manufacturers buy more blocks to restock inventories, the price will be driven up again, said William Schulz, a vice president of Vita Food Products, St.

Louis division. "Even though the price of many fish species is dropping, increasing processing costs will cancel out any consumer savings," Schulz predicted. For example, he noted that oil used in fish processing had more than doubled in cost since February. A pound of vegetable oil that cost 47 cents in July cost only 21 cents only four months ago, he said. Similarly, packaging costs have risen 40 per cent since February, and an additional 15 per cent hike is expected in August.

Labor costs have jumped more than 18 per cent since January and distribution expenses have risen 27 per cent in the last six months, mostly due to gasoline price increases. Schulz said his company was paying 35 to 36 cents a pound for breading that cost 13 cents two years ago and about 20 cents last year. It is really frightening what's happening in the food industry," he said. "If someone had told me last year that I would be selling 100 pounds of sugar for $35 I never would have believed it." But that is today's price of sugar that carried a $13 price tag a year ago. Schulz said trade magazines were predicting food price increases of 600 per cent during the next decade.

A spokesman for Meletio Food which specializes in fish, said he had not received any notice of price declines. "We've gotten nothing but he said. "Fish prices have either stayed the same or gone up slightly." The fish market tends to follow the beef market. When meat prices are high, shoppers turn to cheaper fish, which inflates the demand and drives up the price. Presently the beef market is slightly depressed.

Beef is priced low to sell. Fewer consumers are selecting fish as an alternative. William Kram, of the Kram Live Fish said that the prices on live fresh fish hadn't changed noticeably in the last six months and that no major fluctuation was expected. He said that buffalo and perch were in short supply and that some smaller shrimp were slightly cheaper. The bargains at the fish counter, if they do materialize, will be in the frozen salt water varieties such as cod, sole, flounder, halibut, whiting and turbot.

"Some items are going down because packers are sitting on inventories," said Zell Firestone, vice president of the frozen division of Allen Foods, Inc. But Firestone said most of the bargains were lower quality fish items rather than top labels. "Large shrimp have remained firm at a pound wholesale, and lobster tails jumped almost 30 cents a pound in the last six weeks," he said. "Ocean perch will be a good buy until heavy demand drives the price back up." Dr. Roy C.

Berry Funeral Funeral in Lebanon Sunday of infirmities. He attended McKendree College in Lebanon and St. Louis University, where he was a member of the undefeated 1907 football team in the period when, some authorities believe, St. Louis University was the first team to use the forward pass. East Side of that day was in Brooklyn, she said.

"If it was illegal, nothing was done about it," she said. "It was an honest game, and anybody could go there and see them pulling Mrs. Geter stopped selling numbers when she married in 1947. Five years later, she joined a religious sect. "I wasn't a gambler then, and I am not one now," she said.

"I can't stand to lose a nickel. If it was not for my job, I wouldn't be selling these new lottery tickets." But Mrs. Geter's employer, Russell C. Hudlin, is all for the lottery. "This is the only possible way that some people can get ahead in life," he said.

"The banks won't loan them any money. It's a gamble, but this is what made this country great. I think it is a good thing." Carlton Zucker, chairman of the State Lottery Control Board, estimates that revenue for the first fiscal year will be about $150,000,000. The state is expected to keep about $60,000,000 with an equal amount going to prize winners. Administrative expenses will use up the rest.

"This is big business," Zucker said recently. "It is going to be successful, "it's going to be honest, and it's going to be fun." Early reports indicated that ticket sales were brisk in most of the supermarkets, bars, package liquor stores and retail outlets authorized to sell them. Beautification Entry Deadline Individual residents, neighborhood groups and busines firms have until Sept. 16 to prepare entries for the St. Louis Beautification Commission's annual awards competition.

Residential landscaping, rehabilitation of residential and commercial buildings, clean-up efforts and new construction are some of the categories in which awards will be made. Entry forms and information can be obtained by telephone, 367-1500, or by writing the commission, 115 Union Boulevard, 63108. First-, second- and thirdplace trophies will be presented by Mayor John H. Poelker in October at City Hall. Backs Air Plan Representative Melvin Price Illinois, is backing a proposal of the St.

Louis Metropolitan Area Airport Authority to establish St. Louis as a "transatlantic co-terminal" for direct travel to Europe, Price's support for such designation is contained in a letter to the chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board, Robert Timm. Custom FUR LANE BRYANT CLEANING Kessler tick Chubby Slop Cell FOR GIRLS AND TEENS 231-5820 sues excissieely DOWNTOWN and FOUR BRANCHES NEED NEW IDEAS IN DECORATING? Carafiols will be OPEN SUNDAY for BROWSING at all 4 Carafiol Locations 10091 MANCHESTER RD. 3177 LEMAY FERRY RD. 12100 ST.

CHARLES RD. 12110 ST. CHARLES RD. Sunday browsing hours 12 Noon to 4 p.m. Coffee will be served See you there.

limit, having it be 1 per cent above the Federal Reserve discount rate, currently 8 per cent. This would set a 9 per cent top. Kostman has sent back answers to the Governor's questions about boosting the limit, but the answers have not been made public by Bond's office. "There's clearly a need for some change," Sikes said. He listed three main considerations: (1) "There needs to be a flexible measure for setting a ceiling." He said the interest limit could be tied to some economic barometer, like the Federal Reserve discount rate or the commercial bank prime rate.

Or it could be adjusted by the finance commissioner, as in other states. He did not say which he preferred. (2; Lending agreements shouid be straightforward, "nct confused by a series of add-ons. That well might involve the abolishment of the point system," Sikes said, (3) Penalties for violations, which Sikes cal'ed light, should be increased. he lerders don't really fear the penalty he said.

BOYD'S Can Autumn Beads The fall beads turn to luscious shades that coordinate with the newest fushion looks. Here: matinee length beads. $0. Clip or pierced earrings. $3.

Also rope beads. $7.50. Choose from a collection of colors. CLAYTON CRESTWOOD PLAZA DOWNTOWN NORTHLAND NORTHWEST PLAZA WEST COUNTY 01 08 04 03. 1 Co 12 20 13 26 35 34 33 32 130 40 39 31 36 THE BIG GAME: Linda Graham peering through the state lottery.

The first lottery drawing will be at the plastic sphere that contains the numbered balls whose Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield on Aug. 8. (UPI number combinations will determine winners in the Illinois Telephoto) Test Of County's Morality Code In Massage Parlor Case Delayed By ERIC L. ZOECKLER Of the Post-Dispatch Staff St. Louis County officials have developed a strategy designed to eliminate sexual stimulation in the tiny back rooms of suburban massage parlors.

The campaign began today in the courtroom of Fifth District Magistrate Melvyn W. Wiesman. Ms Angie Johnson, 28 years old, an employe of a north county massage parlor, made a brief appearance and was granted a continuance until Aug. 13 to answer charges that she had violated the county's vice and morality code. Ms Johnson, tall and slender, was dressed in a striking flower-print pant suit and wore large sunglasses.

She lives in the 6300 block of Page Avenue, Wellston. Her case has been selected to test the scope of the county ordinance by County Counselor Thomas W. Wehrle. Nearly a dozen other massage parlor employes have been arrested in weeks for performing sexually stimulating massages that fall short of sexual intercourse or sodomy. These cases will not be prosecuted until the Johnson case is completed, Wehrle said.

The question the court will have to decide is whether masturbation is an "unnatural sex act" and thereby prohibited under the county code when done for pay, Wehrle said. At any rate, he said, his office will continue to prosecute sodomy and prostitution cases coming from massage parlors. Ms Johnson was arrested at the Magic Touch massage parlor, 8026 St. Charles Rock Road. She is accused of accepting money from an undercover county vice squad detective to engage in an act of mutual masturbation.

County officials are uncertain whether the activity Ms Johnson is alleged to have promised the policeman could be considered an "unnatural sex act" within the meaning of the county's prostitution ordinance, enacted in 1964. One county official, who asked that his name be withheld, said, "'You could walk up to 10 persons on the street, and I bet you nine of them would not think there was anything unnatural with that." If the judge rules that the ordinance does not cover the action in question, county officials are expected to push for an ordinance specifically prohibiting sexually stimulating massages. The campaign against the massage parlors began when county policemen were told that many were becoming centers for prostitution. "I have been told that once a customer has been in there a few times and there is no fear that he is a policeman, then the girls will engage in prostitution with the customer," Wehrle said. "I am told that many of the girls who work in the parlors are known prostitutes," he said.

Sgt. Billy Rushing, chief of the county's vice squad, said the massage parlors required references before allowing a customer to engage in intercourse. This tactic, he said, "makes it virtually impossible to control these He said that some parlors had gained a competitive edge in the increasingly crowded field by offering prostitution to regular customers. He said that if the county was successful in prosecuting under the present code, "It might slow them down and eventually put some out of business." If the campaign is unsuccessful, he said, it would signal to massage parlors that efforts to be fronts for prostitution could continue and eventually be expanded. Efforts to curb the activities of the parlors in the last three years have been hampered because of legal problems.

Prosecuting Attorney Gene McNary, in co-operation with county police, attempted to build felony cases against them but found the old laws inadequate to prosecute a relatively new form of commercial sex. Our Free 40th Anniversary Special Takes The Or Hors d'oeuvres, Fruit, Sandwiches, Meat, Etc. VEr Just deposit $40 or more in a new or existing Community Federal account and get this lovely 12 inch, Diamond Point Crystal Hostess Plate FREE. Trimmed with a ruby band. symbolic of our 40th Anniversary, this multi purpose serving piece will compliment any table.

Earn the highest praise from your guests as you earn the highest rates on your savings. FREE when you open or add to your account with $40 or more 1934.1974 Funeral services for Dr. Roy C. Berry, a physician for many years in southern Illinois, will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow at First United Methodist Church in Lebanon.

Burial will be at College Hill Cemetery in Lebanon. Dr. Berry, 88 years old, died Community St. Mid -County Office North Office Crestwood Office 8637 Delmar Bivd 2621 Road Watson Road years at the Innerbelt al Old Halls Ferry front of Stir LOAN ASSOCIATION INSURED Charles Road Phone: 427-7400 at St. Chartes Office South Office Temporary Florissant Office Mark Twain 4495 Lemay Ferry Rd 4090 N.

Lindbergh Rd Shopping Center South of 1-255 at Old Halls Ferry Rd.