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

On Today's Editorial Page Underfed Military Reiourc Editorial UtTh Politician Pay Editorial on FINAL Vol. 104, No. 31 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1982 20' rnnn uuiJ LitLl SPATC Mil flEHS I s- -of -vw 1 By Kevin Horrigan Of ths Post-Dispatch Staff The Missouri National Guard was called out this morning to help St. Louis dig out from its worst snowstorm in 70 years. The storm left at least four people dead, and it all but shut down the metropolitan area.

Officially, 13.9 inches of snow were recorded between 6:30 p.m. Saturday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday. But areas to the PAGE of snowstorm pictures on Page ID. OTHER snow stories on Pages JA, 4A and 5A.

south of the city reported as much as 22 inches of snow and drifts and 6 feet deep. Forty-five miles east of St. Louis, Greenville, recorded 22 inches of snow. Hundreds of cars were abandoned. Some of them were left in the middle of major traffic routes that had taken on the appearance of arctic glaciers.

The only vehicles moving with confidence were those with four-wheel drive, and owners of those vehicles responded heroically to the emergency. Getting to work this morning was almost impossible, especially for those who work downtown. Supervisors at the Bi-State Transit System declined to send their buses onto snow-packed, car-littered city streets. That decision came after inspection of the streets and on the advice of police officials. Officials said it might be noon before the streets were clear enough to run the buses, St.

Louis Mayor Vincent C. Schoemehl Jr. and St. Louis County Executive Gene McNary, in separate orders, declared snow emergencies. They asked businesses to curtail activities so that streets could be kept clear for emergency vehicles.

Following their own advice, Schoemehl and McNary ordered nonessential city and county services closed today. The state of Missouri also told workers to stay home. Nearly all See SNOW, Page Officially: 13.9"; i) W.D. KeslerPost-Dispatch S-H Abandoned vehicles and pedestrians walking in the street dot an otherwise deserted Olive Boulevard on Sunday afternoon. Snowfall's No Match For Emergency Crew TO ao wL 1 ii irTTrTT-i 1.

iiiihiii)i I' 1 "-f. Jj In one case, baby food and formula were delivered for an infant. Several times, volunteers ferried patients to hospitals for their routine dialysis treatment. White estimated that more than 400 persons had volunteered to help. At one time, 40 or 50 volunteer vehicles were on the road, he said.

Amateur radio operators, who in the summer serve as tornado spotters for the county, relayed calls between volunteer drivers and emergency headquarters. The center is underground. It was completed in 1960 as a bomb shelter for county government officials in case of a nuclear attack. It is used as headquarters for Civil Preparedness and a training center for the Tactical Operations Bureau of county police. More than 2,000 calls came into the underground center Sunday.

Phones had to be pulled out of storage and See EMERGENCY, Page 4 By Howard S. Goller Of the Post-Dispatch Staff James P. White was in a hurry to get to work Sunday morning so much of a. hurry that he put on an unmatched pair of gloves. But in contrast to White's sartorial disarray, the operation that he is overseeing is well-matched to its task.

White is St. Louis County director for divil Preparedness. He was hurrying to the Emergency Operations Center, 14847 Olive Boulevard in Chesterfield. Through long hours Sunday and today, it was the hub of volunteer activity in the snow emergency. Volunteers with four-wheel-drive vehicles took insulin, heart medicine and oxygen to people stranded away from their home medicine chests.

Medicine was picked up at pharmacies where the patients had charge accounts. Doctors and nurses were taken to hospitals. 4 i Bystanders help push a stuck Clinton Avenue near Blair Avenue. Spanish Lake; and James Moore, 64, of Affton. Clifford Spencer, 53, of Lebanon also died Sunday after shoveling snow in front of his home, St.

Clair County officials reported. The vast majority of area residents apparently were content to stay indoors, hospital officials said. Most hospital emergency rooms reported light caseloads over the weekend. They were thankful for that. Many doctors and nurses couldn't reach hospitals, even though dozens of volunteers drove them in their four-wheel drive vehicles.

For these drivers and ambulance paramedics, many of whom worked two and three shifts, it was hectic. Many Salvadorans Killed 19 In Compiled From New Services SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador Government troops raiding houses in the middle of the night fatally shot at least 19 people and raped six teen-age girls, according to relatives of the victims. An army officer at San Salvador's San Carlos garrison said privately that soldiers had killed 20 "subversives" in a pre-dawn sweep Sunday through San Antonio Abad. The community is a working class suburb on the northwestern edge of the capital. Some witnesses said as many as 27 people had been killed.

News of the killings and rapes came on the eve of hearings today In Washington on El Salvador's human rights record. President Ronald Reagan last week formally certified that El Salvador's government is making a concerted effort to 'respect human rights. Top administration officials were dispatched today to Capitol Hill to 1 ST8 Jr yf 3 in ar) W.D. KeslerPost-Dispatch ambulance on was carrying a sick infant when it became stuck. The ambulance Another ambulance took the infant to the hospital.

Storm Creates Medical Dramas Of Life, Death Monday Unofficially: 22 99 It was the snow of a lifetime for many St. Louisa ns more snow than they had ever before seen fall in a 24-hour period. But in the annals of the National Weather Service, the weekend snowfall which officially totaled 13.9 inches was only No. 3. Of course, some unofficial measurements of Sunday's snowfall ranged from 16 to as high as 22 inches.

But we're talking official here, and officially, this weekend was No. 3. No. 2 began on Feb. 20, 1912, and totaled I5.S inches before it was over the next day.

The honor for the record snowfall here goes to the 20.4 inches dumped in the Great Blizzard of 1890 that came March 30-31 of that year. The National Weather Service began to keep snowfall records only six years earlier. Storms of previous years are lost to history. In the 98-year-long record, the latest storm No. 3 is followed by two 12-inch falls one on Jan.

11-12, 1909, and the other on Dec. 19, 1973. Next, in order, come the 11.2 inches that fell on See RECORDS Page 4 SNOWED OUT: Because of the snowstorm, the St. Charles Post was not published today. St.

Charles news is on Page 7C. BAD WEATHER also forced cancellation of today's Illinois Edition. WHITEOUT: Because of weather-related problems, today's Post-Dispatch contains no classified advertising. BETTER LATE: Delivery of Sunday's late edition Post-Dispatch, interrupted by the weekend snowstorm, is being resumed today. However, many papers won't be delivered because drivers can't get to the newspaper's plants.

More (Sigh) Snow Snow job Official fore-: cast for St. Louis and vicinity: Cloudy with a good chance for snow tonight and early Tuesday. Low tonight In the teens and the high on Tuesday In the upper 20s. Chance of snow tonight 40 percent. POST SPATCh WEATHCRBIRO rwJ Information on Poot 1A By Roger Signor Of the Post-Dispatch Staff At least four St.

Louis area men suffered fatal heart attacks Sunday after shoveling snow. Two mothers gave birth to babies in snowbound homes. A third woman delivered a baby in an ambulance that was stuck in a snowdrift. "i Vital medical supplies were rushed in many cases by volunteers to scores of people isolated in their homes. These were among the life-and-death medical dramas created over the weekend by the city's third-worse snowstorm on record.

But considering (he storm's severity, there were sports CLIFFHANGER: It's tough to win at Kansas State and No. 1-ranked Missouri almost didn't. Page IB of Sports business BUSY PHONES: With the impending breakup of other companies stand to pick up a larger share of the telephone equipment market, including Clayton-based General Dynamics Corp. Page 1C of Business Today features THE FOX: The grand old theater, which has many memories for St. Louisans, is being refurbished for its new life.

PAGE 3D in Everyday inside 30 Pages Snotvstorm Facts At A Glance remarkably few health crises, officials said. However, many said they expected to see more problems today and tomorrow when more people likely would try to get outdoors to shovel snow and do other taxing chores. To avoid potential problems, health officials had two words of advice to those with heart problems and other chronic ailments: Stay indoors. "If you have a heart problem, please don't shovel snow it's not worth your life," said Mary Ernst of the St. Louis County medical examiner's office.

Three St. Louis County men died Sunday after shoveling snow, she said. They were Virgil Tiemann, 57, of Florissant; Robert Prange, 66, of before setting out for the airport. Inter-city bus service was halted on Sunday and was supposed to resume when roads became passable. Bi-State buses were running late because of poor road conditions.

Snow emergency An official snow emergency is in effect for the city and county. Officials asked businesses to halt operations until 8 p.m. today. In the city, cars parked on designated snow routes are subject to tow. Closings State, city and county government offices, except for essential services, were closed today.

So were almost all public and private schools and many businesses. Forecast The low tonight will be in the teens with a 40 percent chance of snow. Tomorrow's high will be in the upper 0s. There's a chance of snow agai Wednesday. ambulances were grounded in snowdrifts and paramedics often had to make two or three tries before reaching their destinations.

The most dramatic battle with the snowdrifts involved Sharon Miller, 36. She gave birth to a 9-pound son Sunday morning in an ambulance that got stuck shortly after 9' a.m. in a snowdrift on Interstate 55 in Edwardsville. The ambulance was on its way to a hospital in Maryville. Edwardsville Fire Capt.

Dennis Henson and firefighter David Camaghi delivered the baby their first in the marooned ambulance at 9:22 a.m. In the meantime, a second ambulance See MEDICAL, Page 4 Say Troops Night Raid justify the additional military and economic aid that the administration wanted to send to that country to help it battle leftist insurgents. A Salvadoran army communique Sunday said five soldiers were slightly wounded in the "search and elimination of subversive cells in the northwest zone of the capital last night and this morning." About 100 people told judicial authorities that soldiers had dragged their relatives into the street and had shot them. Morgue officials in San Salvador said they had received 19 bullet-riddled bodies from San Antonio Abad. Victims ranged in age from a 14-year-old boy to a 57-year-old woman.

She was the only woman killed. Several of the victims were clad only in underwear, and their hands were bound behind their backs with twine, morgue officials said. A 16-yeai'ild girl told reporters that See RAID, Page 8 Sunday's snowstorm in brief: Totals Officially, 13.9 inches of snow fell at the National Weather Service station at Lambert Field. It was the third heaviest snowfall ever recorded here, and the heaviest since 1912. Casualties Four area men died after suffering heart attacks while shoveling snow.

No other serious injuries were reported. Travel Conditions Major arterial routes in the city and county were plowed Sunday night and this morning, but generally only one lane was open in each direction. All were snow and ice-packed. Secondary roads and side streets were scheduled to be plowed as crews became available. Trans World Airlines and Ozark Air Lines suspended St.

Louis operations Sunday. But they expected to resume flights today. Airlines advised travelers to check Business 1-3B Editorials 8A Everyday 1-8D News Analysis IA Obituaries 6B People 8 St. Louis 3A Sports 1-5B TV-RadloV.