St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 22

Attf. L5 SEP 13 1994 HMO Merger Consultants Await OJ. Trial Trial consultants will be vital in helping choose O.J. Simpson's jury. They also have been pivotal in local cases such as the Dennis Bulloch murder trial EVERYDAY ID SPORTS Colts' Staff Has MU Bloodline ic REGION Water Patrol To The Rescue ib WORLD Parti Quebecois Gets Majority 3a In The Works Physicians Health Plan plans to buy GenCare, which would give it nearly half the HMO market here.

BUSINESS 6C ST. ID rasTDBffir 50C TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1994 (1) 5-STAR VOL. 116, NO. 256 Copyright 1994 E5ZBL" Aberdeen Officer Guilty Of Extortion; Another Cleared Wiiile Unuz2 Air Spsce Flying apparently undetected in restricted space, a Cessna 150 piloted by Marylander Frank Corder crashed on the South Lawn of the White House early Monday morning. The details: Baltimore V' fox.

fit VaMi Vim Fl Sunday evening: Plane stolen V'A EM from Harford County Air Park YvYv -V sometime after 7:30 D.rrX ir-X Lj Early Monday, morning: Plane flies OHouse -V i3 down rm Sfrew to Mall rrMMha White House Washmqton Monument, theft; turns toward the WhitftHouse: endine turned off no lights exceVt those on ing tips 01 :49 a.m.: Plane pws into grass on South-Lawn about 50 ft. from White Hose, then uuouyn a magnolia upts, mis nouap wan Mr- rri J. all t.to mil; niui pronounces ueaa 1 Washington By Virginia Baldwin Hick Of the Post-Dispatch Staff In a verdict that one defense lawyer called "impossibly inconsistent," a federal jury acquitted one St. Louis police officer Monday and convicted another on charges they shook down a motorist for $300. The U.S.

District Court jury found Robert "Bobby" Baker, 39, guilty of extortion involving interstate commerce but acquitted his co-defendant, Alderick Reed, 42. Reed embraced several family members as he left the courtroom. He declined to comment, but his attorney, Joel Schwartz, said Reed was thrilled. Schwartz said also that the verdict puzzled him. "It's a strange case," he said.

If the jury believed the testimony of the motorist, "then they're both guilty. If they believed Reed, then they're both not guilty." Dean Hoag, an assistant U.S. attorney, said the four-day trial and See VERDICT, Page 4 Radar Found Plane In DC But White House Got No Warning Of Its Approach Compiled From News Services WASHINGTON The plane that slammed against the White House early Monday morning had been detected by radar at National Airport minutes before the crash, according to federal investigators. They are trying to determine why Secret Service officers guarding the mansion were not warned of the aircraft's approach. A patch of lawn, a holly hedge and a magnolia planted by President Andrew Jackson were all that slowed down the airplane as it hurtled toward the president's home.

Startled uniformed Secret Service officers at the White House saw the descending plane at 1:49 a.m. and ducked for cover. The plane crashed onto the South Lawn of the White House, skidded, slammed through the hedge and clipped the tree before it cartwheeled against the mansion two floors below President Bill Clinton's private quarters. The pilot, killed in the crash, was Frank E. Corder, 38, of Aberdeen, Md.

He was said to have a history of mental illness and alcohol abuse, and relatives described him as depressed over the breakup of his marriage and the death of his father. Clinton and his family were not in the White House when the Cessna 150, a small, single-engine plane, hit. They were staying at Blair House, the government guest house across Pennsylvania Avenue, because of renovation work at the White House. They returned to the White House Monday. The plane's dive onto the White House South Lawn "does not appear to have been directed toward the See CRASH, Page 5 Frank Corder's life had been on a downward spiral 5A Protecting White House is a difficult job, expert notes 5A Despite crash, Clinton holds ceremony for volunteers 5A Odell Mitchell Jr.Post- Dispatch Officer Robert Baker, 39.

He remains free on bond pending appeal and faces a maximum sentence of five years. Pilot invaded restricted zone. apparently evading notice by controllers at Washington National Airport. Planes flying below 100 ft. V-XJ I are on the radar screen.

Crime Fighter's Life Ends In Bitter Twist White I JZZ Si i rj Mile -V Housn a I Center fc- Tte Mall "SA 1 uncorf- Washington Knight-Riddsf TribuneJAMES SMALLWOOD and RON CODDINGTON mi By Bill Bryan Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Todd Meriwether was a promising young trooper with the Missouri State Highway Patrol when he quit last November because he was tired of dark rural roads and writing traffic tickets. "He missed the action of the city," said Meriwether's father, Charles Meriwether. So Todd returned to his old job fighting urban crime as a St. Louis police officer. He had been with the department for three years before joining the patrol.

Late Sunday, Officer Meriwether, 27, was shot to death in front of the home he shared with his parents in the 4600 block of Korte Avenue. Meriwether, shot twice, was able to 'kill his assailant, Oliver Lee Jones, 34, a convict on parole for robbery. After watching a television football game with his father, Meriwether had gone outside to attach an anti-theft device to his car. Officer Todd Meriwether Preferred "action of the city" Investigators believe Jones, of the 4500 block of Harris Avenue, had walked by and figured Meriwether would be an easy robbery victim. He didn't realize that Meriwether was See OFFICER, Page 4 Cool Your Jets On Haiti, Area Delegates Tell Clinton 6A 1 7 nations promise forces for invasion, U.S.

says Belleville To Settle Bias Suit Hiring Priorities, Durbin said he feared that Clinton was so weak on Haiti, politically speaking, that he may press ahead with an invasion immediately, before opposition has time to gel. A Post-Dispatch survey of the Missouri and Illinois congressional delegations tracks the results of a new ABC News poll, which found almost three-quarters of Americans opposed to an invasion. A total of 78 percent of those surveyed said the administration should ask permission from Congress before See HAITI, Page 6 By Jon Sawyer Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau Chief WASHINGTON Virtually every member of the congressional delegation from Missouri and Southern Illinois opposes a U.S.-Ied invasion of Haiti and most believe that President Bill Clinton should obtain congressional approval before committing U.S. forces. House Majority Leader Richard A.

Gephardt, is sitting on the fence. Gephardt said he would defer making his position public until after he meets this morning with Clinton at the White House. Rep. Richard J. Durbin, D-I1L, a leader of the effort to require a pre-invasion debate and vote, said he hoped to meet with Gephardt today and had requested a meeting with Clinton.

"We're trying to map out a strategy, realizing that we may have very little time," Durbin said. WEATHER Malawi Shakes Free From Time Warp INDEX July Revisited TtoRaJGHLYl MOPERK MALAWI i' -v 3 Business 6-12C Classified 5-1 2B Commentary 15B Everyday 1-1 OP Movie Timetable 9D NationWorld 3A News Analysis 13B Obituaries 4B St Louis IB Sports 1-5C Television 6D EDITORIAL PAGE FORECAST Today Partly sunny and humid. High 87. Partly cloudy and muggy tonight Low 67. Wednesday Partly cloudy and humid.

High 91. Other Weather, 8B Back Pay OKM By Donald E. Franklin Of the Post-Dispatch Staff The Belleville City Council voted Monday night to agree, with some reservations, to a Justice Department plan to settle a suit charging the city with race and sex discrimination. By a 9-8 vote at a special meeting, the council reversed its 10-6 vote last week to fight a consent decree that outlines a plan to hire more black and female municipal employees. "We have to put this behind us and move forward," Mayor Roger C.

Cook said after Mon-day'smeeting. Cook cast the deciding vote after the council spit 8-8 on the issue. The consent decree requires Belleville to put up $300,000 for Justice Department officials See BIAS, Page 6 BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) Foreign nannies are out, and so are white classics professors of Latin and Greek. A ban on miniskirts has been lifted, television will soon air, and men can now grow their hair long. Four months after coming to power, Malawi's first democratically elected government is dragging this poor southern African nation out of a three-decade time warp fostered by its former dictator, Hastings Kamuzu Banda.

Parliament already has repealed prudish dress codes, television should be broadcast next year, and new restrictions on work permits for foreigners stipulate that if locals can do the job, outsiders need not apply. "We told the people we would create employment for Malawians tJiere are many local nannies available," said Peter Faatchi, home affairs minister in the ruling United Democratic Front, which defeated Banda in elections May 17. Banda allowed the wealthy to employ foreign nannies. A fierce supporter of Western conservatism, Banda primarily hired British executives to run the central bank, the state airlines and his own business empire of farms, stores and a bakery chain. Even the head gardener and housekeeper at his Sanjika palace in Blantyre were whites See MALAWI, ige 5 POST-DISPOTCH WEATHER BIRD Where Is Lambert Headed? The Cuban Crisis Is Over For Now AP Hastings Kamuzu Banda, former dictator of Malawi, in a 1989 photo.

His ways are being replaced by the new government 14B 1100.