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

fpH Jl in VOL. 112, NO. 337 Copyright 1990 MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1990 (1) 5-STAR 25 POST- 3 I (dj msumy East Germany's former Communist Party, now called the Party of Democratic Socialism, won some seats in the new German Parliament. In the biggest surprise, the Greens environmental party Europe's best-known ecology movement lost nearly all their seats. Only the sister party in what was East Germany won seats in the new parliament.

According to forecasts based on early vote counts by television networks, Kohl's coalition was expected to win 55 percent of the vote, compared with 33.5 percent for the Social Democrats, the main opposition. The projections have been highly accurate in the past. Official results were not expected until today. Berlin, which was divided until slightly more that a year ago by the Berlin Wall, held its own united elections. Social Democrat Mayor Walter Momper of what was West Berlin lost to his predecessor, conservative Eber-hard Diepgen of Kohl's party.

Compiled From News Services BONN, Germany Chancellor Helmut Kohl's center-right coalition easily won on Sunday the first, free, all-German elections since 1932, buoyed by his popularity as the man who crafted swift unification. The balloting capped a breathtaking transformation that began with a revolt last year against East Germany's Communist government and that led to the merging of East and West Germany on Oct. 3. crease their representation in the 656-seat Parliament to 79 from 57 seats. ZDF said the Greens had lost all but about eight of their 48 parliamentary seats.

In what was West Germany, the Greens got only 4.8 percent of the national vote, the ARD television network said, less than the 5 percent needed for parliamentary representation. That means the Greens' main leaders will be excluded from Parliament. In West Germany's last federal See GERMANY, Page 9 HODVeiTS New Madrid Tries To The ZDF television network said Kohl's Christian Democrats and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, would increase their parliamentary seats to 316 from 305. ZDF said the Social Democrats, who had 239 seats before the vote, would drop to 226. Along with Kohl, Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher was among the big victors.

ZDF said that Genscher's Free Democrats, Kohl's junior coalition partner, would in Get Through (TSN0TMY fAuW fit. ftfrJOTMr A By Peter Hernon Of the Post-Dispatch Staff NEW MADRID, Mo. Most residents in this trembly town will try to make this a day like any other. But it won't be easy, thanks to a widely discounted earthquake prediction that has zeroed in on today for a potential Big One. Although the forecast has been blasted by the nation's leading quake experts, the prediction has upset the rhythm in this rural community, where the surrounding fields are dusted white by cotton fragments left recently from the fall picking.

Among other things, the prediction by Iben Browning of a major earthquake has closed schools and prompted one large employer to hand out smoked turkeys to tempt workers to show up for their shifts. It also has led to the stockpiling of emergency food, water and medical supplies. Today, seven first aid stations will be staffed by volunteers in this community, which numbers 3,200 residents. The fire department's two vintage pumpers will be parked in a reinforced building near the Mississippi River levee. And Gov.

John Ash-croft unmoved by talk of "quake, rattle and roll" is scheduled to visit the local grain inspection office. "We've been planning for three months for this," said police Chief Jim "Mr. Jim" Helms as he worked on an ailing Chevrolet engine Sunday. "I've never seen people cooperate any better than this. We've done everything we can to get ready" for something that most authorities agree will hap-See QUAKE, Page 4 DISASTER EXPERTS get ready in St.

Louis and St. 4A MEDIA, SCIENTISTS should have looked closer 4A 7 "Aaron Copland Serious and popular Aaron Copland Dies At 90 1990, N.Y. Times News Service NEW YORK Aaron Copland, America's best-known composer of classical music and a gentle yet impassioned champion of American music in every style, died Sunday evening (Dec. 2, 1990) at a hospital in North Tarrytown, N.Y. He was 90.

His physician, Charles L. Starke, said the cause of death was respiratory failure brought on by pneumonia. Mr. Copland, who was suffering from diabetes, had two strokes within the last three weeks, Starke said. Of many notable achievements, Mr.

Copland's greatest gift was his ability to be both See COPLAND, Page 11 NFL San Diego 38 Tampa Bay 23 NYJets 17 Atlanta 17 Minnesota 23 Cincinnati 16 GreenBay 7 Pittsburgh 12 MSL Chicago 23 9 Detr0lt 17 Kansas City 5 Kansas City 37 New England 7 NHL LA Rams 38 Chicago 3 Cleveland 23 Blues 2 Washington 42 Detroit 3 Miami 20 Buffalo 2 Buffalo 30 Edmonton 6 Philadelphia 23 Philadelphia 3 Seattle 13 Calgary 5 Houston 1Q, Quebec 5 Phoenix 20 Vancouver 5 Indianapolis 17 Winnipeg 1 LA Raiders 23. College Denver 20 Basketball Dallas 17 UCLA 149 New Orleans 13 98 Blackhawks Top Blues 3-2 The Blues' wifiless streak is extended to six games as the Chicago Blackhawks withstand a third-period rally and beat St. Louis 3-2. 1C A Better Kind Of Health Insurance (editorial) Good Riddance To McCarran-Walter Act (EDITORIAL) 2Q T-shirt vendor John Harlow talking to customer Chester Schmidt on Sunday in New Madrid, Mo. of customers for the shirts, which sold for $7 each.

Schmidt, who lives in Columbia, was in Iraq Tests Missiles; Saddam Sees 650-50' Chance Of War Computer Bid Announces $6 Billion Bid For 'Friendly Takeover' Of NCR The Day Wendi BrownPost-Dispatch Harlow, of Athens, had plenty town on vacation. over of 1990, after Matsushita Electric Industrial $6.13 billion merger with MCA which was announced last week. NCR is a leading maker of automated banking machines and cash registers, in addition to computers. NCR, which has about 56,000 employees, announced earlier this fall that it would replace all its proprietary computers with so-called open systems, which can work easily with models made by other companies. with about 279,000 employees, entered the computer business six years ago as a result of the breakup of the old Bell System.

But it never met the expectations of some observers that it would become one of the major computer makers. Under a merger, NCR would continue to operate under its own name from its headquarters in Dayton, Ohio, said. found downstream Nov. 24. The dead had been missing since Oct.

2. They were: Ruby Lee Feltus, 48; her son, Thyrus Feltus, 27; and her daughters, Carmeline Stevenwn, 29, and Madeline Green, 25. Area civil rights activists have charged that the case was not investigated thoroughly because the family was black. Illinois State Police had failed to investigate three reports that a car was in the river about a half-mile from police headquarters near Ullin, 111. Scott said Sunday that his organization and surviving family members had been receiving wild reports about the deaths.

Scott said that survivors have not been able to get all the information they wanted from Illinois authorities. State Police have refused to release the findings of an internal investigation into the bungled search. See BODIES, Page I ill" i '1, Ji LJ Li i 3 1 I ft FA 1 Compiled From News Services BAGHDAD, Iraq Iraq rattled nerves around the Persian Gulf Sunday, with the first test-firing of surface-to-surface missiles since the invasion of Kuwait. On the verbal front, President Saddam Hussein said the chances of war in the region stood at "50-50." And Secretary of State James A. Baker III said the United States would not attack Iraq if Iraq pulled its troops out of Kuwait and freed all its hostages.

The U.S. armed forces refused to say whether American forces went on alert British forces did when Iraq launched as many as four surface-to-surface missiles in what appeared to be test launches. The missiles were fired and landed in Iraqi territory, U.S. military officials said. The U.S.

statement says, "The flight path of the missiles was away from U.S. and coalition forces. The firing appeared to be part of a test or training mission." Unconfirmed reports indicated that some allied military units in installations near the coast of Saudi Arabia donned their chemical warfare suits during the alert, which is believed to have lasted from about 7:15 to 8:30 in the morning (local time). The U.S. officials refused to say how the missiles had been detected, but they apparently were monitored either by U.S.

spy satellites or AW ACS, airborne early warning radar planes. In Washington, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said on ABC's "This Week with David Brinkley" that the missiles were SCUD missiles or SCUD variants. He said the firing was the first such test since April. Cheney said Saddam had used the missiles, which have a range of 350 to 400 miles, with conventional warheads. But Cheney said a SCUD "could conceivably carry chemical weapons." Cheney added, "It's, I think, proof again, if anybody needed it, that Saddam does indeed have ballistic missiles." See IRAQ, Page 10 counties sometimes require a private doctor's order and sometimes use the standing order.

Illinois public health departments offer immunizations without a private doctor's order, said a spokeswoman for the state health department. "We perceive the practice of requiring a pvate doctor's order to be See CHILDREN, Page 9 NEW YORK (AP) announced Sunday that it had made a friendly, $6 billion takeover offer for NCR the nation's fifth-largest computer company. American Telephone Telegraph Co. said its disclosure of the $90-a-share bid followed weeks of discussions with NCR that broke down over the amount of the offer. said that it continued to hope that NCR would negotiate a merger and that its offer would remain on the table until the end of the business day on Wednesday.

said its $90-a-share bid represented an 88 percent premium over NCR's share price on Nov. 7, the day before rumors of an bid for NCR were reported in the news media. On Friday, NCR shares closed at $56.75 on the New York Stock Exchange. A merger of the two companies would be the second-largest take Muhammad Ali talking to newly freed American hostage Richard lliff of Roswell, in Amman, Jordan, after they arrived there Sunday on a flight from Baghdad, Iraq. Muhammad Ali Arrives In Jordan With Hostages Business 1-24BP Classified 5-1 6B Commentary 3B Editorials 2B Everyday MOD Movie Timetable 6D NationWorld 8A News Analysis IB Obituaries 4B People 6A St Louis 3A Sports 1-8C Television 7D "f5 1 '--V AP Leidholdt, from Denver, said he had been held at a munitions plant 45 miles southwest of Baghdad with five other foreign hostages.

"Conditions were good, but it looked like a P.O.W. camp," Leidholdt said. "There was a fence around it, it was corrugated metal, and we were not allowed outside the compound." Ali's spokesman, Arthur Morrison, said Iraq had paid for airthe hostages to fly out. Morrison said Ali, a convert to Islam, would return at Christmas with Knievel, whose son Robby is planning a "Jump for Peace" stunt in the Saudi desert. Morrison said his group would See ALI, Page 10 from a private doctor before their children can get free immunizations.

In contrast, health departments is St. Louis, St. Louis County and 58 other counties offer free immunizations to all comers, under a standing order by the physician in charge of disease pre-vention for the state health department. Health departments in 35 other ''11 PV I Four Bodies Moved For New Autopsies NAACP Helps Family To Pursue Inquiry 0, Reuters News Service AMMAN, Jordan Former world boxing champion Muhammad Ali arrived in Jordan from Iraq Sunday with 15 freed U.S. hostages.

A spokesman said Ali planned to return at Christmas with motorcycle stuntman Evel Knievel to try to win freedom for more Americans. The 15 freed hostages, many of them held at strategic sites to deter attacks on Baghdad, were freed by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein after All accepted his invitation to travel to Baghdad to meet him. "I'm free, I'm free!" shouted Ralph Leidholdt, 62, embracing a co-worker he hadn't seen since the invasion. By Daniel R. Browning Ot the Post-Dispatch Staff The bodies of four black family members found last month in the Cache River in Southern Illinois were taken Sunday to St.

Louis for new autopsies because of questions about their deaths. The dead, from Hayti, were supposed to be buried Saturday, but a civil rights group got a judge to block the burial so that more post-mortem exams could be done. "We're not saying there was any foul play," said Johnny Scott, president of the East St. Louis chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "But we do not want these bodies in the ground with these questions unanswered.

It plagues the minds of the family and the community." On Nov. 19, the bodies of three of the family members were pulled from a wrecked Tcar submerged in the Cache River; the fourth body was Cold, windy KOHL-ALITION FORECAST: Today: Cloudy, windy and sharply colder. Scattered snow showers are likely. Clearing and cold tonight with a low of 17. Tuesday: Partly cloudy and cold.

The high will be 30. Other Weather, 2A POST DISPATCH WEATHEHBIRO Officials Seek To Ease Immunization For Poor By Virginia Hick Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Missouri health officials have asked the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta to rule on a practice that may be preventing some of Missouri's poor children from getting Immunizations. At issue is a requirement by public health departments in 15 Missouri counties hat parents get an order.