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

Motown Goes Dutch Dutch music giant Polygram NV makes a $301 million deal for the record company that launched the Supremes BUSINESS 1C It's Burgers Til They Bust Tired of whining at the dinner table? A Detroit couple tries a little aversion therapy: feeding their children a week of evening meals at McDonald's EVERYDAY IF Coleman Charged Former Card Vince Coleman faces felony charges in a July 24 explosion that injured 3 people SPORTS ID IU ST. 10 rasT-isT WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1993 fVOL. 115.NO. 216 Copyright 1993 (2) 5-STAR OrflS 50 II. wJi-Mk IspsT LdwiDs (Sddu 1 xV, i a vo 15 Hifr, NX Water Defeating Most Opponents By Virgil Tipton Of the Post-Dispatch Staff As the Mississippi River shrank and Missouri River swelled on Tuesday, floodwater smacked the St.

Louis area with more hard defeats. The Mississippi captured another barge complex from the riverfront and dragged it downstream as a swarm of towboats tried to corral it. In Calhoun County in Illinois, the Illinois River sheared a sandbag barrier and flooded an archaeological museum and field school. The Missouri reached into a cache of dioxin and threatened to slosh it through Chesterfield's business district. A risky plan to divert floodwater through a deliberately broken levee near Prairie du Rocher, 111., to save the town appeared to be failing.

So Tuesday night, authorities ordered the remaining residents and emergency workers to flee. And in towns upriver from St. Louis, the receding Mississippi unveiled the flood's sequel streets and homes pasted with mud, garbage and human waste. But battered flood victims wrested a handful of victories from the flood. In St.

Louis, most of the propane tanks that had bobbed dangerously in the Mississippi for three days settled back onto their saddles. Levees and sandbags along the River Des Peres, sopping with river water, stood firm. And the Mississippi roared past Ste. Genevieve without cracking the town's defenses. The National Weather Service offered this mixed news: The Mississippi at St.

Louis dropped to 47.9 feet on Tuesday, a bigger drop than forecasters had predicted. But the Missouri at St. Charles had grown to 40 feet by Monday, and it was dropping only slowly. See FLOODING, Page 6 Phillips, Officials Are Grilled About Propane Threat By Theresa Tighe and Robert Manor Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Tempers ran as high as the Mississippi River in the disaster center at Cleveland Naval Junior ROTC High School on Tuesday. St.

Louisans evacuated from their homes in the face of a possible propane explosion wanted to know: Why they hadn't been warned earlier. Who would pay bills for food and lodging. And when they could go home. City officials and a spokesman for Phillips Petroleum Co. gave iffy answers to those questions at news conferences Tuesday.

Phillips owns the tank farm on Broadway, near the foot of the River Des Peres, where propane tanks bobbing in floodwater pose the threat of fire and explosion. About 12,000 people who live within a mile radius of the Phillips facility have been evacuated from See TANKS, Page 4 Scott DinePost-Dispatch Residents of Prairie du Rocher, and Illinois National Guard troops on Tuesday fortifying a levee protecting Prairie du Rocher. Water lapped at the top of the levee Tuesday night, and authorities told people to flee. 'V "TU imp, IjME Sandbagger.s Flee Prairie Du Rocher v. Archaeological Center: Levee protecting site in Kampsville, gives way.

5A Carnahan Here: Governor inspects flooding-in--'" Chesterfield. 6A Dloxin Watch: Flooded building in Chesterfield holds contaminated soil 6A Town By Town: Flood crests along the rivers in Missouri and Illinois 7A Phone Trouble: Mississippi River keeps phone crew from center in Portage des Sioux 1C Railroad Ruin: Flood causes $205 million in damages to railroad system. 1C Guest Treatment: Guests at Alton's Stratford Motor Hotel get free cans of water. 1 By Patrick E. Gauen Of the Post-Dispatch Staff PRAIRIE DU ROCHER, 111.

A desperate engineering experiment to try to save this historic town from runaway inland flooding was in jeopardy late Tuesday as an increasing flow across the flood plain lapped just below the top of the levee. The scream of a warning siren before 9 p.m. told scores of emergency workers to abandon their efforts to top the levee with more sandbags and flee for their lives. "It's not over," declared Juanita Bleem, acting director of the Randolph County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency. "There is definitely still Bleem said all but top officials of the flood-flighting effort were evacuated.

By 10:30 p.m., the water-was one foot from topping the levee, but the pressure eased when the Corps of Engineers tore a wider opening in the levee three miles away. The 700 residents had been ordered out on Monday and allowed to return to their homes early Tuesday long enough to get more belongings. By late Tuesday afternoon, one of the few people remaining in the ghost town was Nichole Roy, 19, who stuck around to help feed National Guard troops in what appeared to be the only business open in town Lisa's Bar and Restaurant. "It's getting really scary," Roy said. The further crumbling of a break See TOWN, Page 4 Kevin MannlngPost-Dispatch The sign for Chesterfield Valley Nursery shows the flood's extent Tuesday.

Authorities say the water is 8 to 12 feet deep. Up Victory As Voters Pass Sales Tax Boosts Bosley Ring Bosley said the city's need for more money and the recent flood problems "fostered a great spirit of cooperation among the people. I know that having this money available will go a long way to improve the city and to help us do something about the flood damage." In other area elections Tuesday, voters in five school districts four in St. Louis County and one in Jefferson County approved property tax hikes necessary for the districts to retain state aid under a new state law. By'Jo Mannies and Joe Holleman Of The Post-Dispatch Staff Struggling with a flooded and financially strapped city, Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr.

passed the first major test of his young administration Tuesday when voters gave him the two sales-tax hikes he had said the city desperately needed. "It's a wonderful vote of confidence from the residents of St. Louis," said Bosley, mindful of voters' five rejections of similar proposals over the past 12 years. lican David Broach won by 32 votes, edging out Milton "Butch" Potthast. That GOP win, which follows two others last month, is seen by some as a harbinger for two more pending area special elections to fill state House seats vacated by Democrats.

Also Tuesday, Warren County became the last county in the St. Louis area to exempt itself from Sunday closing laws. By a ratio of almost 4-1, county voters agreed to allow stores to open for business on Sundays. See ELECTION, Page 10 state money. In two special elections Tuesday to fill state House vacancies, Republicans and Democrats split.

Democrats kept the 63rd District seat in St. Louis but lost the 102nd District seat they had held in Jefferson County a race that had attracted money and aid from leading officials in both parties, including Gov. Mel Carnahan, a Democrat. Seventh Ward Democratic committee-woman Dorathea Davis easily won the House seat in St. Louis.

In Jefferson County, Repub Mayor Bosley says flood helped pass tax measures 11A Great flood keeps voters away in south St. Louis 11A The school districts approving the property tax hikes were: Brentwood, Clayton, Ladue, Lindbergh and Jefferson R-7. But the Bayless School District in south St. Louis County faces the loss of $700,000 a year, after voters soundly defeated the 75-cent tax rate increase needed to keep that WEATHER Clinton Takes To TV To Sell Deficit Bill Cloudy, Mild 3 "7 1 Ruth And Justice I FORECAST Today Partly cloudy today and tonight. Northwest wind under 10mph.

High 78, low 63. Thursday Partly cloudy. High 77. Other Weather, 8B INDEX Business 1-8C Classified 1-24E Commentary 7B Movie Timetable NationWorld 3A News Analysis 5B Obituaries 4B People 2A Review 3B St. Louis IB Sports 1-8D Television 8F EDITORIAL PAGE Most Critical Vote -In Memory Another Window Of Opportunity 6B Senators Confirm Ginsburg Compiled From News Services WASHINGTON The Senate easily confirmed Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Tuesday as the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

Ginsburg is a pioneering women's rights advocate. President Bill Clinton predicted that she would move the court "not left or right but forward." Ginsburg, a federal appellate judge, will become the 107th justice and the first named by a Democratic president since 1967. The 96-3 Senate vote completed one of the smoothest confirmations in recent years. Many senators said Clinton's choice of a moderate avoided the pitched battles that engulfed WASHINGTON (AP) President Clinton appealed to the nation Tuesday to rally around a compromise budget plan designed to cut $496 billion from the federal deficit with only a modest hit on the middle class. "There are only two choices: our plan and no plan," Clinton said.

Democratic leaders and administration officials cautiously predicted that the compromise would pass, but Clinton nonetheless delivered a nationally televised prime-time address to try to rally public support and a few critical undecided Senate Democrats. "We cannot afford hot to act," Clinton said in the 18-minute address from the Oval Office. "I need your help." Attributing the deficit and econom- Budget plan most affects the richest and the poorest 5B ic drift to years of liberal Democratic "entitlement" policies followed by Republican "abandonment" of responsibility for the nation's problems, Clinton said: "Our nation is in economic danger." Clinton was barely off the air when his nemesis in the budget battle, Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, was given an opportunity to respond. He said Clinton's plan would neither cut the deficit significantly nor create any new jobs. "The president's economic plan calls for more taxes, more spending and higher deficits," Dole said.

He See BUDGET, Page 4 POST-DISPATCH WEATHERBIRD Ruth Bader Ginsburg Approved by 96-3 vote the nominations of Clarence Thomas, who was confirmed, and Robert H. Bork, who was rejected. Clinton and Ginsburg later made a brief appearance in the Rose Gar-See GINSBURG, Page 9 0 llll 9.