St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 1

4F J) Vol. 121, No. 59 1999 February 28, 1999 6 $1.25 fKEWAKD IMPROVED 1 GUIDE TO TV mm IMS DifL II IMS EOH S5MT Blasts bring down The Arena in 15 seconds before a huge crowd i New television guide provides 57 channels, more listings More channels, more movies, more sports and more. That's what you will be getting in the newly expanded Post-Dispatch television guide that debuts today. We did extensive research and talked to lots of people, and we tried to listen hard.

Readers told us that they wanted more information, better organization and improved production quality. So, on the production side, we upgraded the quality of paper and the printing process. We almost doubled the number of channels listed. We expanded sports coverage to a full page. And we found a permanent home for our cable conversion guide.

Everyday editor Jim Hanselman takes a more detailed look at the changes in P-Dtv on Page A2. Hfw 4 fc Hqu I I 'r 1 5 ONLINE UPGRADE Postnet.com, the Post-Dispatch's online information service, will have a new look and content starting Monday morning. Details, Page D2 Jason Redmond POST-DISPATCH The Arena Born 1929, Died 1999. As the dust cleared, some saw the white sheets of cloth that once hung from the ceiling waving in the wind like flags of surrender. CHILD-CARE LAW IN THIS SECTION The Arena is no more.

It took less than IS seconds and 250 well-timed explosions, and the 70-year-old Grand Dame of Oakland Avenue folded toward the earth in a domino-like motion. For several minutes, the clouds of smoke and dust hid the results: a massive a heap of brick and steel showing only parts of the building's trademark green lamella roof. Thousands of people some observers thought more than welcomed the pope crowded nearby streets and parking lots and jammed highways, beginning several hours before the 5:45 p.m. Just before the blasts, many in the crowd marked The Arena's death in their own ways: Some held tailgate parties, others wore blue ribbons in mourning and others recounted memories. After the old barn was reduced to rubble, many thousands cheered.

"But you know, when all that smoke cleared away and I saw what was left, I was kind of sad," said Norma Wheelehan of Shrewsbury. "All those years of going to The Arena. Gone." Reporters Tim CNeil, Lorraine Kee and Victor Vblland covered the day's historical events. Page Dl. Missouri's rules for those who care for low-income children are so lax that in some cases murderers and rapists are watching the ldds.

THE GUN VOTE in this section How concealed-weapons laws work in Oklahoma, Indiana 1 A Reporters Kim Bell and Terry Ganey traveled to Oklahoma and Indiana to research how concealed weapons have worked. Page A5. Betty Spellman of St. Louis says, "Just because I went to jail doesn't mean I couldn't care for my grandchildren." With her are her granddaughter Rochelle Turman, 4, (left) and Spellman's great-great nephew Mario Beasley, 3. She served 11 months in prison for distributing cocaine.

The eyes of the nation are turning to Missouri, which on April 6 will become the first state where voters decide whether people should be allowed to carry concealed weapons. The National Rifle Association, which supports Proposition says it can't stress enough the importance of the Missouri election. If Proposition is approved, county sheriffs and the St. Louis County chief of police would issue permits to nonfelons who are at least 21 years old and have passed a 12-hour handgun safety course. State Auditor Claire McCaskill estimates that if the referendum passes, 62,000 Missouri residents will get the permits.

That will greatly increase the chances that people you encounter in everyday life will be armed. What would Missouri be like if citizens could carry guns in public places like restaurants and on the highways? The experiences of Oklahoma and Indiana, which each have concealed weapons laws, may offer some answers. Oklahoma's three-year-old law is one of the strictest in the nation. Indiana's law, one of the oldest in the country, makes it easy to get a concealed weapons permit. Missouri's proposed statute falls somewhere in between.

THE ISSUE Weather Sunday: Jerry Njumheim Jr. POST-DISPATCH WHAT'S NEXT Legislators have proposed a central registry where parents could check for abuse and neglect and criminal background checks. Last week state officials overseeing the program changed their stand and said they now would support such background checks and raising the minimum age of providers. Gov. Mel Carnahan has been a leading proponent of more money for early childhood care and education.

Local groups such as Parents As Teachers would like to see money spent on training for parents and other care givers. Carolyn Bower, a reporter, and David Heath, director of computer assisted reporting, spent the past month looking into the issue. Page A8. Morning showers. High 50.

THE IMPACT Without requiring background checks and training, children's safety is at stake. Joanne Palmer was convicted of murdering a child in Columbia, in 1996 while receiving child-care subsidies. She qualified for those subsidies despite past allegations of abuse. Those allegations cost Palmer her foster-care license. She was later convicted in the death of a child in her care in 1992.

Besides safety, child-care advocates are concerned about the quality of some registered providers. Because they come from low-income families, many children in the care of these people already are at risk of failing in school. You don't have to have any training to get the child care payments. Yet researchers say the quality of care in the first years of life can affect a child's social and academic development Missouri pays more than 21,700 people to provide care for children of low-income families. But no one checks their criminal background or whether they have a history of child abuse or neglect The Post-Dispatch found at least 75 convicted felons who have been paid to watch children.

In the St Louis area, they included people convicted for rape, drug dealing and killing a child. The state sets minimal requirements for people who register to get state subsidies. They must be 14 years old and have a fire extinguisher and a smoke detector. The need for a simple child-care system has risen out of Missouri's success in putting to work residents on welfare. But accessible child care doesn't always translate into quality child care.

Low 32. Monday: Partly cloudy. High 58. Other weather, Page B8. http:www.postnet.com 4- 09189V7100' Obituaries, D12-13 Movies, C6 Classified, Gl Editorials, B2 Commentary, B3 Arts Entertainment, C3 Books, C5.