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

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ik 1 the International Building its doomed neighbor on the south. A moment later, the Buder Buiding begins to crumble, too, appearing to drop three stories down the Civil Gary BohnPost-Oispatch Courts building in the background, into a dirty cloud. Finally, both buildings are engulfed in the rising dust and debris. International Tumble Into History There they go: From left, collapses inwards and toward Buder, By Sally BixbyDefty Of the Post-Dispatch Staff "Awesome, Just awesome," breathed Rick Hudson of south SL Louis, slowly shaking his head as be stared at the thick gray cloud of dust rising where the Buder and International buildings had stood moments before. Hudson was one of a crowd estimated at 10,000 who gave up sleeping in Saturday to go downtown and watch St Louis' own miniature, manmade Mount SL Helens.

The volcanic eruption In Washington state took off the side of a mountain and caused millions of dollars In damage. The Implosion of the two buildings, to make way for new construction in the Gateway Mall, caused only a few broken windows. But like Mount St Helens, the blast Saturday morning darkened the sky, sent spectators running as the cloud of dense dust roiled toward them and coated distant cars with gray particles. One window was broken in the new Missouri state office building adjacent to the Wainwright Building. Another was broken in the General American Life Insurance Co.

building. Gose to two dozen windows were broken in the old Antler Hotel, as were several in the Oreon and R. Scott Building, both on Chestnut Street. But scaffolding with boards on the outside protected most of the buildings close to the blast The day began early not only for employees of Dykon the Debris roils up in front of "The Robert LaRouchePost-Dispatch east of the demolished buildings. (More photos on Page 1E) specialist hired by Spirtas Wrecking Co.

to implode the buildings, but for a legion of camera buffs determined to capture the moment Some, like Washington University student David Friedlander, were on the west steps of the Old Courthouse at 5 a.m. to claim the prime spot dead center for the definitive vista of the Buder and the International. The Buder was at Seventh and Market streets, with the International to the north and west on the same block, at Eighth and Chestnut Bob Aldridge set up a still camera and a video rig as dawn was breaking into a cloudless sky about 6 a.m. "When you get a chance like this, come early, claim a prime spot and set up," he said. The crowd grew steadily after 6 a.m., filling first the east sidewalk along Broadway and seeing for the last time only a sliver of the Civil Courts building visible between the two doomed structures.

The crowd then packed Broadway itself after police closed the street; spectators could be seen on the roofs of the Centerre, Equitable, Gateway Tower, Pierce and Famous-Barr Co. buildings. "There are 10,000 here, easy," said police Lt Edward Longlnette. Huge holes were visible in the Buder and the International, where workmen bad cut steel columns every other floor to weaken the structure. Earth berms were banked around the See BUDER, Page II Under the lien law, lt was Ms.

Branson's debt again. But Ms. Branson balked. She fought the Hen, in court and in her conscience. After four years of futile battles, she would pay up.

The law demanded It Logic of one sort dictated it Pay up or lose her house on the sheriffs auction block, for a $1,200 debt Two choices. And surely, in hard reality, there was only one. But Chrlstial Branson had known all along there was a third. 5:30 a.m., Monday, July 9. It was the time when Ms.

Branson, who was due at work at 7 a.m., was ordinarily readying herself for another eight-hour day on her feet cutting leather for See BRANSON, Page I Soviets Test Cruise Missiles 1 t'; v. GOP Moderates Chart Course For Comeback News Analysis By Thomas W. Ottenad Post-Dispatch Contributing Editor DALLAS The remaining members of the moderate wing of the Republican Party are planning to fight on for a place In the party's future. The handful of so-called mainstream Republicans who stood up for moderate policies took a sound beating at last week's GOP convention from radical conservatives, who even whipped President Ronald Reagan on several Issues. With the GOP under increasingly strong conservative control since 1980, Republican sources saw little future for its progressive wing, which has been in decline for nearly two See GOP, Page! Desperation Cheated By Life, Victim Finds Revenge In Death Compiled From Nwa Swvictt MOSCOW The Soviet Defense Ministry said Saturday that the Soviets were conducting successful tests of long-range cruise missiles in response to what he called widespread deployment of such weapons by the United States.

A statement Issued by the Tass news agency said, "If the United States continues seeking military superiority, the Soviet Union will be compelled also In the future to adopt Schools In Area Facing Year Of 'Firsts' McCarty, a State Department spokeswoman, said the State Department would have no comment on the announcement And in Moscow, Western diplomats admitted they had no idea why the Soviet Defense Ministry had decided to revive the cruise-missile threat now. They said the novelty of Saturday's announcement seemed to be the report of successful testing, See SOVIETS, Page II RELATED SCHOOL stories can be found on page 5 A. districts in the St Louis area are looking to the state for more financial assistance to improve the quality of education. But the first school bells will ring with few assurances that those fiscal needs will be met even though the state has begun to exert more control over districts. "There's no way we can survive arm i jIpMJ0S NL i Runner" statue in Kiener Plaza, countermeasures to make certain that the balance of forces between the U.S.S.R.

and the United States will not be upset" Soviet leaders and the Soviet press have on several previous occasions reported testing of long-range cruise missiles, most recently in a Pravda editorial on July 31, and Western experts have long reported that the Russians were developing such weapons. In Washington Saturday, Sondra By Peter Hernon and Robert Koenig Of the Pott-Dispatch Staff FIRST OF THREE ARTICLES School bells will soon ring in a year destined to go down in history as the one that Started later to accommodate tourists. Toughened graduation standards. And taught administrators some hard lessons about finances. Faced with declining enrollments and stagnant revenues, many school by All I By Charlotte Grimes Of the Poat-DitfMtcfl Staff BLAND, Mo.

She was bluffing. Everyone who knew about Chrtstlal Branson's problems and few did know was sure of that Eventually, they thought she would knuckle under to reality. Chrtstlal Branson's modest frame house, the one she worked more than 40 years for and owed not a cent on, had a mechanic's lien against it Even for Ms. Branson, who worked as a leather cutter in a shoe factory, the lien was a manageable sum: $1,200. True, Ms.

Branson had paid that to the contractor who put in the central air conditioning at her home. But the contractor had failed to pay the company he had bought the air conditioner from. IK Veather Pleasant WHAT A BLAST Official forecast far St Loots and vicinity: Mostly suaay Sunday, with the Ugh la the pper and pleasant humidity levels. Hot, dotty and dry through Wednesday, with higha la the Hs, lows around 7a. orr-oierATCM wtUTHfwatfto m.

t. opw. PART ONE Features OWNERS KAIUL AL Houston 5 Cardinals? Boston 11 Cleveland!) San Diego 4 Montreal! Minnesota 5 Torontol Los Angeles 7 Milwaukee 7 San Francisco 5 Yorkl Baltimore 4 Pittsburgh 5.... Cincinnati! Chicago 3 Kansas Cityfi Atlanta 3 Chicago Details in SportsSection Sports FOUR LOOKS AT LOVEHow-to books (right) offer advice to women about men, men about women and both sexes about marrying, money and coping with rejection. Page ID of Everyday Nation CAPOTE DIES: Truman Capote, author of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "In Cold Blood," is dead at age 59.

Page 3A Business Inside Business 14F Classified Ads Editorials J-JG Everyday 1-14D LifeStyle 1-8B MusicThe Arts SG News Analysis Obifarica ME Real Estate 1-211 St Louis 1-2IE Sports 1-14H Travel HK SWEEPERS: The Astros continue over the Cardinals by beating them, night in Houston. Page 1H of Sports CARPET their mastery 5-3, Saturday StcjAaste tryst CASH-SHORT APEX: Apex Oil Co. here was so short on cash last week that it threatened to close its two Illinois refineries. Page IF of BusinessThe Economy.