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

On Today's Editorial Page Timid Arms-Control Policy Editorial And A Stale Latin Policy Editorial 0 Dow Jones 9.16 Close 2393.70 (Page11D) Vol. Ill, No. 124 THURSDAY, MAY 4, 1989 "Jfo pft (5) Copyright 1989 25' ST-DISPATCH I Site Of Trailer Cour ro) if Depart inn LQ)I Bottled Water Ordered Victim, Found In Trash, May Be Baby v-5: I St. Charles County yTwin Island Lake Court- JJ Busch Wildlife, Area r' Health An Issue At Trailer Court By Theresa Tighe Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Traces of chemicals that can cause cancer have been found in two drinking water wells at the Twin Island Lake trailer court in St. Charles County.

Federal officials said Wednesday that they planned to provide residents there with bottled water. TNT, DNT and their byproducts also remain on the surface in spots in the August A. Busch Memorial and Weldon Spring wildlife areas areas that are used by more than a million people each year state and federal officials said. Jack Generaux, who is with the Army Corps of Engineers in Kansas City, said that within the next year, the corps would test soil and water, including the fishing lakes, on about 17,000 acres, in the area that were occupied by an Army munitions plant from 1941 to 1945. Federal officials were in St.

Charles Hi t' i i By Charles Bosworth Jr. Of the Post-Dispatch Staff The body of a white infant girl was discovered about 7:30 p.m. in a trash can near the Mississippi River in West Alton, and authorities immediately began trying to deter mine whether it was Heather Lee Sims of Alton. Heather, 6 weeks old, has been missing since Saturday. Her parents, Robert Citvifi 97 on1 Danla Sims, 30, said the Heather Sims child had been kidnapped by a masked, armed intruder.

In 1986, the couple reported that their 13-day-old daughter, Loralei Marie Sims, had been abducted in a similar fashion in. Brighton, 111., about 10 miles north of Alton. Loralel's body was found in a woods behind their house a week later. The case has never been solved. The body of the baby found Wednesday was discovered by a man who was fishing along a bank of the Mississippi River, said St.

Charles County Sheriff Ed Ueblnger. The man told authorities that he had noticed a person acting suspiciously near a trash can along the Lock 26 Access Road in West Alton, Uebiriger said. The fisherman said that when he started toward the trash can, the person left, Uebinger said. The man said he then looked into the can and saw a large-sized black trash bag with the nude body of a baby girl inside, Uebinger said. Uebinger declined to say whether the person acting suspiciously at the trash can was a man or a woman.

Uebinger said the body was "fairly well-preserved." Mary Case, St. Charles County medical examiner, said from her home Wednesday night that she planned to perform an autopsy on the baby's body this morning. She said it might be up to a week before she completed an autopsy report. FBI officials, as well as local and Illinois authorities, went to the site where the baby's body was found. St.

Charles County deputies asked for a copy of Heather's footprint shortly after the baby's body was discovered in West Alton; the town Is in far northeastern St. Charles County, across the river from Alton. Wednesday afternoon, Alton police See INFANT, Page 18 i 2 r. Area Waste Broker Cited For Exports Alton police detectives Mick Dooley (left) and ert and Paula David Hayes carrying medical records of Rob- Alton Medical U.S. To Bring Troops Home, Senators Say From Alton Mi! Ot 1 r' Wayne CrosslmPost-Dispatch Sims and their daughter from the Group on Wednesday.

Europe but take out all our nuclear weapons in Europe. The defense secretary said that Bush has not considered that possibility but that if it came about, the result would be a "major dust-up in the alliance." West Germany wants the United States to negotiate with the Soviet Union on reductions in the short-range missiles. Britain has joined the United States in rejecting such See NATO, Page 12 Going Up U.S. Median Age Rises To 32.3 WASHINGTON (AP) Statistically speaking, Americans are just a shade older than they've ever been before, with the median age reaching 32.3 years, the Census Bureau says. That means that as of last July 1, half of all the people living in the country were older than 32.3 years, and half younger.

This is up from the median age of 32.1 a year earlier. The median age of the population is highest in Florida (36.4) and lowest in Utah (25.7). Nebraska and North Carolina are in the middle at 32.3. The median age in Missouri is 33, the same as neighboring Iowa. In Illinois, it is 32.4; in Arkansas, It is 32.7.

The maturing of the Baby Boom generation is raising the nation's median age, census officials and other analysts note. This group forms the largest segment of the population, and as it ages, the median age is pulled along, Census Bureau de-See AGE, Page 13 SPORTS Milwaukee 7 Minnesota 2 Texas 4 New York 1 Boston 8 Chicago 4 NHL Playoffs Montreal 3 Philadelphia 0 NBA Playoffs Chicago 101 Cleveland 94 Houston Details in SportsSection ft' OFFICIALS DEFEND deal with Japan GENERAL DETAILS capabilities of North Atlantic Treaty Organization. "I think if the West German people have come to the conclusion they can place more faith and reliance on Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's words and assurances than they can upon sound NATO strategy, then it would be very difficult for me to continue to commit the size of the forces. I 1.

and we allow West Germany greater responsibility of their defense. Cheney, on Capitol Hill to discuss the defense budget, cautioned against "overdramatizing the nature of the current differences" within But Cheney speculated that if a consensus called for eliminating the short-range missiles, as secretary of defense, would have something of a stomach ache If we found ourself in the position where in fact large numbers of our NATO allies encouraged us to maintain our conventional forces in sity pushed a three-wheeled cart holding a loudspeaker that blared slogans. They also carried a large red banner painted with a bright green dragon and the words "science, democracy, freedom and human rights" in each corner. In contrast to last week's march, when students were angered by the government's opposition to their demands for democracy and freedom, today's march commemorating the anniversary of the 1919 May Fourth student movement had an air of defiant celebration. "Today is a holiday, and we are See CHINA, Page 13 ces.

I'm taking a lot of potted meat, too. A little Spam, some tneese wniz can't forget my Nestle Crunch bars." Asked if he would be accompanied by Detective Gerald Crenshaw, one of his regular police bodyguards, Officer replied: "No. I think I'll get another bwana when I go over there." Bwana is a Swahili word meaning sir or master. Officer said he was unsure who would pay for his trip the country of Zaire, the mayors group or some-See OFFICER, Page 14 Post-Dispatch Map OFFICIALS URGE adding radioactive sites to cleanup list. Page 15A County for a public hearing Wednesday night at the Wentzville Ramada Inn on the corps' plans to identify and clean the contamination scattered through the grounds of the old munitions plant.

The statements were made by the officials in an interview Wednesday afternoon. This information is the first that has been released that documents the extent of the chemical contamination at the site, the officials said. Twin Island Lake is 7 miles east of See WELLS, Page 15 related violations. "The EPA is committed to ensuring that this country's hazardous-waste problems are not simply relocated to other countries," Valdas V. Adamkus, a regional administrator for the EPA, said in a statement that accompanied the complaint.

Adamkus said that the EPA was trying to "foster an international environmental ethic" by moving against illegal waste shipments. James R. Vincent, who coordinates investigations for the environmental agency, said that the EPA's enforcement actions were the first to seek penalties under a law that became effective in November 1986. The EPA had sought no fines in several other minor cases. The EPA also cited two companies See WASTE, Page 14 May Lead with West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl as a sign of NATO's vitality.

Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee told Defense Secretary Dick Cheney that they had serious concerns about West Germany's favoring a delay in modernization of the weapons and urging U.S.-Soviet negotiations to scale back the shorti range rockets. The West German stand and the US. desire to triple the range of the U.S.-built Lance missiles has caused a major dispute within the 16-member William L. Webster Sfafe attorney general LEGISLATORS APPROVE state minimum wage Page 10A to retain special counsel," said Duane Benton, director of the Revenue Department. Also Wednesday, the state and the couple who are the plaintiffs in the case asked the state Supreme Court to hear the matter Friday.

The court has yet to rule on that request, Benton said. In addition, the House on Wednesday rejected a plan passed by the Senate that would tax the pensions of all retirees in Missouri while. provid-See PENSIONS, Page 6 PI 1 JWf1 INSIDE Business 10-16D Movie Listings NationWorld News Analysis Obituaries Reviews St Louis Sports f. Class. JI-7E Commentary 3B Editorials 2B Everyday 18F 6F 11A 1B 4B 4F 3A 7 Chinese Students March For Freedom By Bill Lambrecht Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau WASHINGTON In its first crackdown on toxic exports, the Environmental Protection Agency charged Wednesday that a waste broker in Granite City, 111., had illegally shipped materials to Spain by failing to obtain prior consent from the Spanish government.

A complaint by the EPA's regional office in Chicago proposed a $51,750 fine against Triangle Metallurgical Inc. for its export of lead-contaminated wastes that reached Spain this year. The EPA also cited Beelman Truck Co. of St. Libory, 111., for hauling the materials to a barge on the Mississippi River.

The EPA is seeking a $12,750 fine against Beelman for transporting without required consent forms and NATO Rift Compiled From News Services WASHINGTON Members of a Senate panel said Wednesday that if West Germany pushed for the removal of short-range nuclear missiles from its soil, the United States might reconsider its commitment to having so many soldiers stationed in Europe. At the same time, President George Bush again ruled out negotiations with the Soviet Union on the short-range nuclear missiles. The White House attempted to portray his disagreement Firm Hired To Argue Tax Case By Jim Mosley Post-Dispatch Jefferson City Bureau JEFFERSON CITY Missouri Attorney General William L. Webster said Wednesday that his office would not represent the state in a court case to determine whether Missouri must refund millions of dollars in taxes paid by federal retirees. In the case before the Missouri Supreme Court, the state has taken the position that the refunds are not owed.

But Webster whose office normally would represent the state said that he had issued a legal opinion that says Missouri must refund the taxes. The attorney general wants "there to be no suggestion" that the state was not fully represented, he said. If he were to argue before the court, Webster would be arguing a position that he previously has said is incorrect. response, the Missouri Department of Revenue hired the law firm of Shughart, Thomson Kilroy of Kansas City, which specializes in tax law. "I think the wise and prudent thing for the attorney general to do after he issued an opinion was to authorize us A 1 WEATHER Showers Likely St.

Louis Forecast: Today: Mostly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms likely. High 68. South wind 10 to 18 mph. Showers ending tonight. Low 52.

Friday: Partly cloudy with a high of 71. Other Weather, Page 2A POST Compiled From News Services BEIJING Thousands of Chinese students swept past police lines today in a march for democracy and freedom celebrating the 70th anniversary of the first student movement In China. With a burst of firecrackers and the bang of a gong, about 4,000 students from 10 Beijing universities and five groups from out-of-town schools poured out of their campuses in northwestern Beijing. Marching through streets lined with cheering workers, the students carried dozens of red and white banners calling for a free press and democratic changes. Some wore headbands on FSX fighter Page J5B 2 stealth 5B we have In Europe under those circumstances," said Sen.

William S. Cohen, R-Maine. Sen. Slade Gorton, said that if the missiles were eliminated and the 324,000 U.S. military personnel put at risk, the administration's policy should be "that a substantial percentage of troops be brought home saying, "Mom, I'm not wrong." The students said earlier in the week that they would march unless the government recognized their in- dependent student organization.

On Wednesday, the government refused. Most students met little police resistance when they broke through the first line of several hundred police blocking the street. But several thousand students from Beijing Normal College overcame strong resistance from several hundred police officers by shoving their way through, as surrounding Crowds yelled, "Let them through!" and "Hurry up!" Students from the People's Univer decision to have East St. Louis hire an engineering firm whose president was convicted of defrauding the federal government on an East St. Louis housing project.

At the news conference. Officer suggested that he was worried about contracting a communicable disease while in Africa. "I know one thing," he said, "if you let me in the bush for two or three weeks, I'll come back with something. I'm making sure that I'm taking my own blood supply." He added: "I'm not taking any chan FEATURES A 1 1 5 Officer Is Taking Own Food, Blood To Africa By Michael D. Sorkin Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Mayor Carl E.

Officer of East St. Louis said Wednesday that he planned to take a supply of his own blood with him when he travels to Africa next month because "if there are any accidents, I don't want any transfusions from monkey blood." At a news conference at City Hall, Officer announced that the National Council of Black Mayors had asked him to go to Zaire for two weeks with a dozen other U.S. mayors. In addition, Officer defended his. LOCAL Obata Honored Architect Gyo Obata is winner of the annual Levee Stone Award recognizing civic leadership.

PAGE 3A SOUTH AREA NEWS After Sections and MSD officials say that sewer plant work has not been interrupted by strikers. PAGE 1S National League Cincinnati 6 New York 4 Atlanta 6 Philadeiph ia 3 Montreal 6 5 American League Seattle 3 Detroit 2 Cleveland 6 City 2 California 2 Baltimore 0 Eye On The Future Eugene J. Mackey III says now is the time for all good architects to come to the aid of their country. PAGE 1F 5F Television I DISPATCH WEATHEflBIRO nca U.I PT OFt.