St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 39

5 FEB 21397 I GLOBE (i) TROTTER PHILADELPHIA Bird Paradise 0 STORY only 31 more to go Kirkwood's Gig Gwin has In a countries Vultures come home to roost REGION ID EVERYDAY Uncovering A Family's Past ic BUSINESS Growing Pains For Internet ie SPORTS Shanahan, Wings Clip Blues if tfi IT IMtfcMMMrnl- Ti ml hiii ml lilnml rmnitntin ca ci zz" 3 VOL. 119, NO.33 Copyright1997 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1997 (6) 5-STAR 1 mm Cellular Calk: Many, Costly, Some Personal Analysis Of City Officials' Bills Shows Pattern: Wide, Heavy Use I By Carolyn Tuft and Tim O'Neil Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Data analysis By Natalya Shulyakovskaya Of the Post-Dispatch Staff 1997, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Phone calls to campaign headquarters and workers. To a well-connected contracting company. To the Casino Queen gambling boat.

Those were some of the often-dialed numbers from the cellular telephones the city issued to top City Hall officials and administration insiders. Although many calls were placed to city offices and other work-related numbers, quite a few had no clear connection to city business. And the sheer volume of calls raised questions about how city resources were being used. Example: Over two years, three officials of a city basketball program made 41,928 cell-phone calls an average of 21 calls a day. The city spends about $200,000 a year on 335 cellular phones for employees.

City policy limits use of the phones to city business. tough sports town, Dick Vermeil rules. tills for Comptroller Darlene Green's two cell phones showed calls totaling more than 11 hours to her campaign staff. Green said the calls were personal and that she was reimbursing the city. In its current issue, Consumer Reports magazine calls cell phones the most expensive form of phone use 10 times more costly than conventional phones.

Even "free" time under cellular package plans carries at least a 3-cent-a-minute charge. The Post-Dispatch used a computer to analyze cell-phone records of Comptroller Darlene Green, Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. and eight current or former members of Bosley's administration. See PHONES, Page 7 throughout the history of the FBI, the lab has enjoyed a reputation for precision and expertise. was where law enforcement agencies from around the United States sought help in solving crimes.

The lab conducts more than 600,000 examinations a year. But for more than a year now, the Justice Department's inspector general has been reviewing widespread allegations of abuse and shortcomings at the lab. Now, with a final See FBI, Page 16 Larry Flynt." He wonders how he is portrayed by the rail-thin actor with darting eyes who plays "the See FRANKLIN, Page 11 East St. Louis riverfront provides the city with $10 million a year. Casino Queen has delivered about $10 million to East St.

Louis. Still, the city hasn't had an economic turnaround and, many believe, has become too dependent on one enterprise. Lab At The FBI Is Put Under A Microscope Workers Allege Flaws In Handling Of Evidence -s- I The Casino Queen on the "We have three million people a year who come into our city and, one has been robbed, shot or mugged. People are starting to think, ''Wow, East St. Louis is really no different than any other city in America.

Thai's an intangible that's very important to a city that's trying to rebound. East St. Louis Mayor Gordon Bush WEATHER Pleasant FORECAST Sunday High clouds and mild. Northwest winds 6 to 12 mph. High 48.

Cloudy overnight. Low 37. Monday Chance of rain. High 47. Other Weather, 8B Vfe knew YcmCnY POST-DISPATCH WEATHERBIRO Bf 5 PAT OFF.

091 89V7100 si The year By and Of the THE taken they're years $10 and But Queen, things buildings, in The recovery in Alton, East Peoria, Joliet and Illinois' other Rust Belt communities. As the poorest of Illinois' nine casino towns, East St. Louis was the ultimate test of that theory. Because of its condition, it was the only city that the Legislature guaranteed would get a casino slot. Has the idea worked? Undeniably, the money is rolling in, more than anyone originally dreamed.

"The community has embraced the boat," said Craig Travers, general manager of the Casino Queen. "It has given them some light at the end of the tunnel." Travers, a St. Louis native who grew up in Las Vegas, points to the casino's 1,200 employees, most from Illinois, and its $33 million annual payroll. "East St. Louis is a very small city, and we represent a very large employer," he Kevin McDermott Margaret Gillerman Post-Dispatch Staff POLICE OFFICERS have working radios, the garbage gets collected, the firetrucks respond to fires.

Anywhere else, such things would be for granted. But in East St. Louis, little miracles compared with a few ago and result mostly from the million a year the city collects in taxes fees from the Casino Queen riverboat. 3V2 years after the arrival of the East St. Louis still is plagued by the that haven't changed: boarded-up vacant lots and a dearth of development.

Even with the gambling taxes flowing from the riverfront, it remains one of America's poorest cities. idea in the early '90s was that gambling revenue would spark lasting economic By Richard A. Serrano 1997, Los Angeles Times WASHINGTON Public tour groups filed through a hallway, kicking up dust, as delicate experiments were conducted nearby. Agents, fresh from the FBI's gun range, passed through perhaps unwittingly spreading residue that could jeopardize tests. Lab technicians sometimes ignored or violated scientific protocols.

Some examiners were unqualified to issue test reports. In one case, an analyst enhanced his scientific knowledge by "viewing videos." Throughout the history of the FBI, the lab on the third floor of the J. Edgar Hoover building has enjoyed a reputation for precision and expertise. Not only was it where federal agents sent their evidence but also it Odell MitchellJr.Post-Dispatch Still, problems remain. a "Where are the bowling alleys? Where are the Economic revilalizalion is the key and one casino is not economic revitalization.

jR. Bruce Palter' son, executive director of the East St. Louis Financial Advisory Authority Convicted Tells Of A By Kim Bell Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Joseph Paul Franklin was 23 when he first looked at a Hustler magazine. He never bought one. He just flipped through them at a newsstand or in the aisles of a convenience store.

An avowed racist, Franklin still remembers what went through his mind when he saw one of Hustler's sexually explicit photographs of an interracial couple titled "Butch and His Georgia Peach." "I just saw blood," Franklin says. Seeing that photo triggered a rage that left smut king Larry Flynt, the magazine's publisher, paralyzed in a 1978 shooting in Georgia. Franklin admitted he shot Flynt and has been indicted but not yet tried. INDEX Killer, Avowed Racist Life Of Rage, Hatred ArtsEntertainment 3-4C Business 1-8E Classified 1-68G Everyday 1-14C Movie Timetable 13C News Analysis IB Obituaries 14-15D People 2A St. Louis ID Sports 1-14F Travel Leislure MOT EDITORIAL PAGE "I I got my name listed in encyclopedias on serial killers.

They might just kill me for the notoriety. I'd rather be executed by the state, ff JOSEPH PAUL FRANKLIN ST. UU6 POST-THATCH KMOX The Race For Mayor Of St. Louis Monday: The candidates who is leading at this time and what the people think about some of the things that are being said about the leading candidates. Tuesday: The concerns what St.

Louisans see as the major issues facing the city. Wednesday: The leadership issue do St. Louisans think the mayor can make a difference? A Threat To Social Security Put The Brakes On Drive-Through Mastectomies 2B "Have you seen the movie yet?" Franklin, with a child's curiosity, asks a reporter. Franklin, 46, is referring to the current blockbuster, "The People vs..