St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 11

3JULUl999 B2 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH METRO FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1999 www.postnet.com Law order Suspect in IIS killing is caught in Des Moines ST. LOUIS Ruling may come Tuesday in officer's beating case A judge is expected to announce Tuesday 1 mull I -u-i 'J JERRY NAUNHEIM JR. POST-DISPATCH Robert Newett listens Wednesday as his group discusses Kosovo in a session of Washington University's Lifelong Learning Charlotte Eldredge, another group member, is behind Newett. whether St.

Louis Police Officer Robert Dodson should be bound over to stand trial for second-degree murder in the death of a burglary suspect he arrested. Circuit Judge Iris Ferguson is determining whether there is probable cause for Dodson to go to trial, based on a preliminary hearing held Monday. In that hearing, an admitted burglar testified he saw Dodson beat Julius Thurman, 19, with a black object, either a flashlight or a billy club. Dead woman's neighbor is charged A young neighbor of an elderly woman found dead in her Baden home under mysterious circumstances has been charged with burglarizing the woman's home and stealing her car. Joami Kendell 17, was charged after homicide detectives said he admitted entering the home of Mar-jorie Beintker in the 1000 block of Bittner Street and taking her car keys and her car.

Beintker, 75, was found dead in her second-floor bedroom Tuesday afternoon. The cause of her death remains under investigation. Kendell was arrested late Tuesday after he was shot in the ankle by police while running from Beintker's stolen car following a high-speed chase. Kendell lived around the corner from Beintker in the 7900 block of Frederick Street, and detectives believe he is involved in connection with an earlier break-in and theft at her home. Detectives and the medical examiner's office hope to know more today about Beintker's death and whether it can be classified as a homicide.

Young man is fatally stabbed Durando Gunn, 18, was fatally stabbed in the 4400 block of San Francisco Avenue shortly before 2 a.m. Thursday, St. Louis police said. A witness told police Gunn was assaulted in the street by two men who dragged him into a nearby alley, behind the 3900 block of North Newstead Avenue, after the assault. Gunn, who lived in the 10100 block of Lord Drive in the Castlepoint neighborhood of north St.

Louis County, was stabbed several times and died at 1 1 :25 a.m. at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. MADISON COUNTY Killed worker's mother sues firm The mother of a laborer killed at Granite City Steel Co. in April sued the company and its director of safety on charges of negligence Thursday in Madison County. Bemice Thiessens of Pontoon Beach said the company failed to provide adequate safety measures before her son, Gerald Pacheco 28, fell about 35 feet while working at the blast furnace.

The suit filed by her attorney, Ronald S. Motil of Edwardsville, said Pacheco was moving large, heavy cooling plates on a conveyor when one of them caught him and pulled him off a deck. The suit seeks damages of more than $50,000. A spokesman for the company had no comment. Pacheco's death is being investigated by the U.S.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. CORRECTIONS A headline in the July 4 Arts Entertainment section about African-Americans' involvement in the world of classical music incorrectly indicated that Kem Williams and Patrick Jackson are members of the St Louis Symphony Orchestra. Williams is the founder and conductor of the Cameron Youth Chamber Orchestra, and Jackson teaches orchestra in the Kirkwood School District. I COMMUNITY POSTIine Do you like to keep up with the news as it happens? POSTIine makes daily updates on stories of regional national and international interest. For a menu of today's stories, call (314) 923-2323, tap in category 4200.

By Bill Bryan Of the Post-Dispatch Nancy Burnett and her former husband, John Burnett, had just about given up hope that the man charged with murdering their 14-year-old son, Jimmie, in 1985 would ever be caught and brought to justice. Now the couple's prayers have been answered. On Saturday, the suspect Bouaphaphom Vorasith, 36, a Laotian immigrant was captured by police in Des Moines, Iowa. He was arrested on suspicion of striking another man in the chin with a hammer. The injury was not serious but the angry victim told police that Vorasith was wanted in St.

Louis for a murder. "I'm overwhelmed that they got him," said Nancy Burnett, 47. John Burnett, 53, echoed his ex-wife's feelings: "I had almost given up hope." The Burnetts still visit their son's grave on his birthday, holidays and on the anniversary of the day when he was shot in the head. They remember him as an outgoing, popular seventh-grader. On April 19, 1985, Jimmie Burnett and some friends were walking in the 3300 block of Oregon Avenue when they shouted racial slurs and exchanged words with several Laotian youths who were with American girls, police said.

According to witnesses, Vorasith went into a house and returned with a pistol. Jimmie Burnett and his friends ran but Jimmie was not as fast as the others because of a degenerative bone disease in his hip. Vorasith got into a combat stance, witnesses told police, and fired, hitting Jimmie in the back of the head from about 100 yards away. Other Laotian immigrants were saddened by the shooting and worried about retribution. They told police Vorasith was a troublemaker who had terrorized people in their community.

Vorasith disappeared after he was charged with second-degree murder. Fugitive experts believed he moved around the country using phony names and blending in with other Asian communities. Police exhausted all leads in the investigation. The "America's Most Wanted" television show ran segments on the case in 1991 and 1992 but no strong leads developed. The Burnetts said the murder gnawed at his brother, Bobby, who was a year older than Jimmie.

"Jimmie had wanted to go for a ride with Bobby in Bobby's car that night (April 19, 1985), but Bobby wouldn't let him," said John Burnett. "Bobby always blamed himself for Jimmie's death." Bobby Burnett began drinking heavily, and he died of alcohol poisoning, compounded by asthma problems, in 1994 at age 24. "Bobby was never the same after Jimmie's death," Kim Haley, a St. Louis police officer who is the half-sister of the Burnett brothers. Nancy Burnett said she still wonders what would have become of Jimmie had he not been shot "I think about that all the time." tute.

He's been coming back ever since to take courses like Shakespeare, history and current events. Furfine comes back, in part, to be with her new friend, Suzanne Wohl. "I found her in Shakespeare," Furfine says. "I followed her to history. She's taking an opera class this fall and I'm following her there." Freedman herself takes a course every term except winter, when she goes out of town.

She's even taught one, on the American essay. From her 75-year-old point of view, the institute is testimony to a new demographic and philosophy of aging. "The need is there," she says. "So many of our constituents are people retired from their academic world, from their professional world, from their child-rearing world. Whatever they were doing before, they now want to do something for themselves.

They want to continue learning and they want to do it in a social atmosphere." Freedman sees her generation as writing the book on' learning in later life. "We're the first generation that has lived in a healthy way to this point," she says. We're pioneers. It's nice to be a pioneer at this age." Students Wash U. institute attracts older students Continued from Page Bl read newspapers, watch television news and listen to National Public Radio.

The class lasts two hours, including a 10-minute break for coffee and cookies. The institute began four years ago. From a few dozen people and three or four courses, it now offers more than a dozen courses in each of three terms a year. Over a year, about 250 people sign up. Director Richard Diemer says attendees are a cross-section of professionals and homemakers, college graduates and people who never went to college.

The institute went dark over the summers until this year, when students in two discussion groups couldn't bring themselves to take a break. Courses are informal, non-credit and "peer-led." Rather than academic credentials, leaders need knowledge, interest and a desire to share it ented the idea to university administrators. In setting up the institute, Washington University jumped on a trend that started in 1962 when the New School for Social Research in New York City created its Institute for Retired Professionals. Now the New School and Washington University are among more than 200 U.S. colleges, universities and other educational institutions with "institutes for learning in retirement." Their number include Lincoln University in Jefferson City and Southern Illinois University at Carbon-dale.

And the network is growing at the rate of about 25 a year. SIU at Edwardsville, for instance, is starting one. Just 11 years ago, 24 of these institutes got together to form the Elderhostel Institute Network. This is an offshoot of Elderhostel, the organization that offers short programs for traveling seniors in the United States, Canada and overseas. By contrast, the institutes serve people in their own back yards, often the same people year after year.

Gideon Schiller, a retired lawyer, speaks of himself as "present at the creation" of Washington University's insti Pediatrician Larry Kahn teaches Shakespeare, a lifelong interest and a course so popular that it's offered in three concurrent sections. Saul Boyarski, a urologist and lawyer, periodically offers a course on truthfulness in public life. Course topics might have come right out of a college catalog. Others include "Masterpieces of Art," "Jane Austen: Her Life and Works," "A Cultural History of India," "The Supreme Court in America." No crafts, no how-to, no fluff. All meat.

Most of the offerings are in the humanities, with the notable exception of "Understanding Our Universe," a recurring course taught by Bob Cortinovis, a retired McDonnell Douglas engineer. This fall, the institute will offer its first hands-on science course, geology, with classes at the university's Tyson Research Center in southwest St Louis County. Henrietta Freedman, a Washington University alum, pushed the university to start the institute. "I had read about it happening in other places," she says. "I thought if it could happen there, it could happen here." And it did, after she pres Police look for clues in diabetic girl's disappearance family friends.

Heather also was for the couple's 2-month-o Id daughter. Police four tests a day to monitor her diabetes. Richmond Heights police and the area Major Case Squad are involved in the search. The family has been cooperative, police said. Heather is 4 feet 10 inches and weighs 75 pounds.

She has medium brown hair and hazel eyes. She was last seen wearing a dark blue t-shirt, possibly with an emblem on it, and blue and green plaid shorts. home and discovered Heather missing. There were no signs of forced entry, and the baby was still inside. Police discovered red stains on the floor, but tests did not immediately show if it was blood.

In the back yard, police marked off a small grassy area where there appeared to be a substance on the ground. Heather, who lives with her mother in south St Louis, could slip into a diabetic coma without her insulin. She takes BY VALERIE SCHREMP Of the Post-Dispatch A 12-year-old diabetic girl who needs two shots of insulin a day was discovered missing about 5 a.m. Thursday from an apartment in Richmond Heights. About 40 investigators were searching for Heather Kul-lorn, who was staying for about a week at an apartment in the 1600 block of Yale Avenue with a couple, who are Kullorn said the baby's father was out and the mother was working a night shift when the father returned postnetlcom Making St.

Louis click. MJSMMSM 923-2323 New St. Louis City Information Lines .2500 Get Information about the most popular and widely used City Services MIKI MImI MARKFTPI 1PF Pounding the pavement for a new job? Visit the Be on time for your next appointment i ki I Employment Guide and get on the road to a new career with postnet.com's Yellow Paget. Get postmco mare pace with our database of over 4,000 openings. Plus, get ahead door-to-door directions with detailed with the Employment Guide's career news, salary and maps to any address in the St.

Louis relocation calculators, and professional advice. area. Drop by postnet.com's Calendar and make planning your cuTroTiiMMrMT "ext night out a snap! Browse our complete listing of i ENTERTAINMENT events or view Arts Entertainment features such as 1 postnet.comentert.inment Music and Around Town. Or if you are staying I i our Upcoming Video Releases Calendar. i i SPORTS If you're a golfer, swing by postnet.com's Golf Guide.

Search our directory of postnei comsports local and national courses, get maps and rankings, and even scorecards. i Need help from a pro? Get tips on your swing, short game, putting and more 1 with the Virtual Pro. i I PnMMIINITIES Revisit St' Louis fmi Heritage in Join the discussion on where St. Louis has been and DoSSml'mto postnet.com's Communities. Here you'll find where it's heading by visiting the On Culture or features like Pages of History and WWII Region of Tomorrow online discussion forums in History.

postnet.com's Communities. Soap Opart Updates 7200 Horoscopes Updates 7300 Recycling Guide 1800 Entertainment 7000 Entertainment Headlines .7010 It's Your Birthday 7014 lokeoftheDay 7015 Thought for the Day 7017 Book Reviews 7020 On the Net 7325 Weekly Web News 7326 Recipes 7030 Today In Music 7050 Tube Talk 7067 Movie Reviews 7041 M0. Dept. of Conservation 2328 Fishing 2325 MDC Facilities Programs .2326 Hunting 2327 Seasonal Activities 2329 What's happening In St. Louis .7100 Art shows 7101 Conceits 7102 Exhibits 7103 The Kids Scene 7107 Outdoors 7111 Festivals 7014 Stock Quotes 1000 Financial News 5000 Financial Headlines 5010 Stock Market Roundup 5020 Commodities 5022 Precious Metals 5023 Money Rates 5025 Foreign Exchange Report .5026 Foreign Stocks Report 5027 Mutual Funds Report 5028 Stock Market Insights 5029 Saint Louis City Information .2500 Owning property, paying taxes, getting information 2501 Household trash pick-ups, recycling information 2502 Health div.

services; birth death certificates 2503 Repairing and improving your home 2504 City parks recreation facilities 2505 Traffic, parking violations .2506 Operating your business in the city 2507 Personal neighborhood safety 2508 Pets other animal topics .2509 Your water services 2510 News and Weather Today's News Headlines .4025 Weather 4090 National Weather 4091 Travel Weather Updates .4094 Today's stories 4200 Sports 6000 NL Baseball 6030 AL Baseball 6035 NBA Basketball 6040 Pro Hockey 6050 Boxing 6160 Motor sports 6175 Tennis 6185 Golf 6165 Pro Wrestling 6180 Afternoon Horse Races 6140 Evening Horse Races 6141 Tennis 6185 Lottery Results (M1HL) 7777 Other Stales Lotteries 7778 Hot 1 Cold Numbers 7779 Trivia General 7601 Showbiz 7602 Sports 7603 News 7604 Not online? Pick up an Internet Access Kit front postnet.com at Schnucks or call 552-1555. Directions: Dial 923-2323. Tap In four-digit number to hear updated Information 24 hours i day. POSTIine Is a tree local service. Call 552-1400 with questions and comments..