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

LOCAL Cave Victims: Story Of Their Lives id SPORTS Tewksbury Chases Out Cubs 4-1 if WORLD Palace Tour Awes Commoners 3A Big Challenge For Chesterfield The flood leaves Chesterfield with millions in damage and the biggest challenge of the city's young life. BUSINESS IE Hi a 7 A Race To Save Greyhounds A nationwide network is trying to stop the abuse and killing of greyhounds, some of which are shot and disposed of when they can no longer race EVERYDAY 1C mm ii 115, NO. 220 S6 1 f. 25 SUNDAY, AUGUST 8, 1993 Copyright 1993 FINAL 5-STAR (6) resft Mated rindls on Detd (Dsn nr. 1 7 1 tat WK-V.

1 v. i' -s i A 'a ft iX 7 XT An TV In St. Louis, 6,000 Allowed To Go Home By Tim Poor Of the Post-Dispatch Staff As the crest of the Mississippi River approached Cape Girardeau, on Saturday, thousands of flood-weary, flood-wary people kept one eye on their wet property and another on saturated levees. Perhaps the best news was in south St. Louis, where about 6,000 more people were allowed to return to their homes and businesses as the city assured them that the threat from a propane leak had dissipated.

The worst was probably in Hermann, where residents were told they may not have natural-gas service restored for anywhere from a week to a month. And the most welcome word for travelers was almost certainly at Alton, where authorities reopened the Clark Bridge on Saturday evening. In Louisiana, the U.S. 54 bridge to Pike County, 111., was also reopened. In south St.

Louis, city officials reduced the evacuation area Saturday afternoon to within a radius of the Phillips Petroleum Co. tank yard at 8722 South Broadway. That area contains about 50 homes and businesses. About 12,000 people had been told to leave a week ago, after dozens of tanks were set afloat in the flood July 30. Half of the displaced residents were told they could return Friday, and most of the rest Saturday.

St. Louis Fire Chief Neil J. Svetan-ics said he and other city officials decided to allow residents to return See FLOOD, Page 8 Mr ,7 Kevin ManningPost-Dispatch The smell from the rotting food in her refrigerator was hard to take when Louise Albright entered her home Saturday for the first time in eight days. Albright, who lives in the 830b block of South Broadway, was one of about 12,000 residents ordered from their homes last week because of a propane gas scare. See story, Page 10A.

President Bill Clinton talking on the phone Friday as he awaits the Senate vote on his deficit reduction plan. Clinton Talks Of More Cuts Cramped: Family of four tires of a motel room 7A Long-term Stress: Flood unique in causing despair. 7A Prison Ruined: Damage to Renz is "heartbreaking." 8A Firing Line: Officials questioned in Prairie du Rocher. 9A After The Flood: Area is unprepared, group says. 9A Flood Summit: Local officials flock to Jefferson City.

10A Inflamed: Phillips tries to calm residents 10A Adaptable: Native plants and animals handle floods. IB This Area's Worry: Upriver Communities May Soak Up U.S. Aid By Kathleen Best Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau WASHINGTON The $5.8 billion in federal flood aid approved by Congress last week may be too little, too early, for Missouri and Illinois. Rivers in the two states won't return to their banks for another month, delaying the kind of final damage assessments usually required for federal disaster benefits. By then, the upstream states of Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska are likely to be well into their cleanup efforts.

And the initial disaster aid pool could be dry. "We are concerned about this," said Marc Farinella, chief of staff for Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan. "The fact that the water recedes first further north should not be a reason the people of Missouri get penalized." I Al Grosboll, top flood aide to Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, said a first-come, first-served basis would be unfair to downstream states.

"It will give preference to areas of the river damaged first and will discriminate against areas See DISASTER, Page 10 Record Damage Makes Cost Of Flood Cloudy By Jim Gallagher Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Like a boat pilot navigating the new Chesterfield lake, analysts are plying uncharted waters as they plumb the economic impact of the Flood of 1993 on the St. Louis area. The deluge swamped 7 percent of Missouri's land. Some damage estimates are now running eight times as high as in the 1973 flood, making comparisons unreliable. "We've never been through anything like this before," state labor analyst Russell Signorino said.

But analysts' best guesses on the flood's impact run like this: If you live in the city or suburbs, and if your house and job remain dry, you'll feel little effect from the flood. You might pay 20 or 30 cents extra on a $100 grocery bill because lower farm yields are pushing up crop prices. See IMPACT, Page 10 Compiled From News Services WASHINGTON Pleased with his slender Senate victory, President Bill Clinton pledged Saturday to work for more cuts in government spending to placate members of Congress who reluctantly supported his budget plan. "Our work is far from finished," Clinton said in his national weekly radio address. "We'll continue to look for ways to cut unnecessary spending and trim waste." Clinton's promise came about 12 hours after the Senate voted 51-50, with Vice President Al Gore casting the tie-breaking vote, to give the president his victory.

White House aides have refused to say how broad these new cuts might be, although they say privately that they have identified $5 billion to $10 billion that could be trimmed from the budget. But promises made to Sen. Bob Kerrey, who provided the crucial vote Friday night, and others have added an additional burden to a review by Vice President Al Gore, due next month, that was to have focused on "reinventing government." White House spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers described Clinton Saturday as "kind of giddy" but a little tired after a frenetic, agonizing week in which his budget plan survived votes in the House and Senate by a total of three votes. The House vote Thursday was 218-216. Clinton exclaimed: "It's a bright sunny day in Washington in more ways than one.

The political fog that has surrounded this town for so long is at long last lifting." A ceremony is planned for Tuesday when Clinton will sign the budget into law. Over five years, it will raise $241 billion in new taxes through increased levies on upper-income people and a 4.3-cent-per-gallon increase in the gasoline tax, which will hit the middle class. It will make $255 billion in cuts. Myers said Clinton was eager to press on with his ambitious agenda of other legislation. Officials, she said, were discussing when to un-See BUDGET, Page 11 Size of budget deficit all depends on whose figures you accept 1 if Kevin ManningPost-Dispatch Theresa Johnston loading groceries into her johnboat Saturday on a flooded stretch of Highway 79 in Foley, while her daughter Louise waits patiently.

A neighbor, Dorothy Edwards, stands in the background. Mother and daughter take the boat to their second-floor apartment. Bosley Can Sink Or Sail On Tax-Hike Victory WEATHER Chance Of Storms Rood Of if INDEX Automotive 33G Business 1-8E Classified 2-61G Everyday 1-1 4C Movie Timetable 13C News Analysis 1.4B Real Estate 1G Reviews 2D Sports 1-14F Style Plus 1-6S Travel 1-6T EDITORIAL PAGE FORECAST Sunday Partly cloudy with a chance of storms by evening. High 86. South winds.

Low 69. Monday Isolated storms. High 91. Other Weather, 8B By Joe Holleman and Jo Mannies Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Virtually overnight, the image and clout of St. Louis Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr.

shot up with Tuesday's voter approval of sales-tax hikes expected to boost the city's budget by $27 million a year. But with the praise and enhanced power, the victory also saddles Bosley with a challenge that many say poses new risks: He must fulfill voter expectations as to how the money should be spent and what neighborhood improvements it should foster particularly after the flood of the century. "You start creating enemies when you make promises and then break them," cautioned Alderman Gregory Carter, D-27th Ward. Bosley says his word is good. "Once we start getting the money in January or February, people will be able to look up and look around.

They'll see streets being fixed, street lights repaired and Dumpsters replaced," he said. Tuesday's victory follow )d five voter rejections See BOSLEY, Page 11 I "I i "mir A POST -DISPATCH WEATHERBIHD A Victory, But Also A Warning For Equal Opportunity In Belleville 2B J.B. ForbesPost-Dispatch Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. (center) greeting President Bill Clinton last month. 09 189V 7 100'.