St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 13

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1980 ST. LOUIS POST' DISPATCH SECTION 1-48 Editorials News analysis Page 2 Page 3 if St. Louisans Want Admiral Down At The Levee miiimim- i iwnnwDWM i Mmmm'immmBm 1 in has not demanded payment on existing company obligations, and is continuing to explore all avenues available to keep the company operating in St. Louis." First National officials indicated that bank would be glad to make a loan, provided the indebtedness to Boatmen's was reduced by $1.5 million. This is ironically the same amount needed to make the Admiral seaworthy once again.

Streckfus officers stressed that if the repairs were made, the boat would be in good shape for at least 20 years. The Admiral has traditionally been the biggest moneymaker in the seven-boat Streckfus fleet, with capacity crowds of 4,000 commonplace on Saturday and Sunday summer nights. Arnold and Mrs. Martin encountered a problem in their budding effort to save the Admiral. The Streckfus company is a privately held family corporation.

First the Streckfus brothers were at the helm "Capt. Joe" and "Capt. John" here and "Capt. Roy" and "Capt. Vern" in New Orleans.

Then Roy Streckfus' son, Bill took over. Now his son-in-law, Carroll, is in charge. "It makes it hard to get donations when it is a privately owned, profit-making institution," Arnold said. "For us to save it and get donations, we need to say 'You're doing this for the Admiral and St. Louis, not for the boat There may be another solution for Mrs.

Martin, Arnold, and others who want to save the Admiral. Several well-placed downtown St. Louis sources said Wednesday night that prospects may be dim for a financial institution lending the Streckfus company enough money to get the Admiral repaired. However, they said, several downtown executives are discussing buying the St. Louis landmark from Streckfus or from the New Orleans shipyard, having it repaired and ensuring it remains nestled below the Arch on the St.

Louis levee. You wouldn't think Carol Martin and Bruce Arnold were really old enough to be sentimental about the Admiral: But sentimental they are so much so that they have launched their own campaign to keep the vessel afloat and in St. Louis. She is 27 and he is 24. They are not riverfront habitues.

Both are employed at West Port Plaza; he lives in north St. Louis County and she lives in West County. Despite their distance from the St. Louis levee, however, the Admiral is close to their hearts and both were upset Wednesday when the Post-Dispatch reported that the 40-year-old excursion boat, the largest in the world, had canceled its 1980 cruise season. More serious to Admiral aficionados, if financing cannot be found for repairs to the welded steel skin of its hull, the boat will never return to St.

Louis but be appropriated by the New Orleans shipyard where it has been since December to satisfy a $300,000 repairs and drydocking bill. "I was more than just upset to read this," Mrs. Martin said. "I was born in St. Louis and I have been going on the Admiral since I was a little kid and my parents took me.

"I remember when I was a teen-ager and the Bob Kuban band first played on the Admiral. I still like it, like dancing and partying on it. "There just has to be something the people of St. Louis can do to get it fixed, to keep it here." Mrs. Martin, an executive secretary, found a receptive ear in Bruce Arnold, promotion director for West Port.

"I am from Quincy, 111., so maybe I am just a river rat at heart," Arnold said. "But I think it doesn't matter if you live in Soulard or in Creve Coeur, the Admiral is a landmark for the whole St. Louis area. That is my opinion as a private individual, not as a West Port spokesman." Arnold and Mrs. Martin set about telephoning banks Wednesday to see if one of them would become a repository 1 Sam LonePost-Dlspatch Carol Martin and Bruce Arnold buttonholing effort to get pledges of support for saving the shoppers Wednesday at West Port Plaza in an steamer Admiral.

Rescue Squad estimated in May. May was when the Coast Guard grounded the boat until the repairs were made. The original estimate had been $750,000, and Boatmen's agreed to make the loan. When the Admiral was hauled up in drydock at a New Orleans shipyard last month, however, it was found that an additional $500,000 in work was required. Capt.

William Carroll, president of Streckfus, said that Boatmen's would County Earned Extra Witness Tells Story, Police Take It, Him In is examining! alternative ways of keeping the Sreckfus company operating. "The company's past performance and current projections do not indicate the ability to earn sufficient profit from operations to service the additional debt required to finance repair of the Admiral," the bank said. "Sums for such purposes must come from other sources, such as additional equity or the sale of assets. The bank $400,000 months because most of the money comes from payment of property taxes due Dec. 31.

Previously, the money has remained in the banks as long as 45 days before being sent to local jurisidictions. Both of these changes sharply reduce the ability of banks to profitably invest county money for themselves while the funds sit in their banks, Lucks noted. As a result, the county will have to pay interest on some of its borrowed money for the first time since the present policy was instituted by former County Supervisor Lawrence K. Roos Lucks said. Wehrle said no state law authorizes the county to invest funds collected for other jurisdictions.

The county, therefore, would take a considerable risk if it invested this money, he said. The county, he indicated, might responsible for replacing the money if a bank in which it was invested failed. The jurisdictions also might contend that they could invest the funds more profitably than the county, he said. A 29-year-old Breckenridge Hills man who testified at a hearing Wednesday that he carried a Molotov cocktail to a friend's car last May was arrested minutes after his testimony' at the Municipal Courts Building, 1320 Market Street. He was taken to Police Headquarters and booked for a second time on suspicion of possessing a bomb.

He was arrested by Detectives Timothy McDonough and Thomas Rangel, the same police officers who found the Molotov cocktail in May in a car in which the man was a passenger. The man testified Wednesday during a hearing before Circuit Judge Michael J. Hart on a motion to suppress for funds collected in a public drive. The banks Webster Groves Trust Plaza Bank of West Port, and Creve Coeur Bank Trust are as suburban as the prospective fund-raisers. Two big downtown banks, Boatmen's National Bank of St.

Louis and First National Bank in St. Louis, declined to loan Streckfus Steamers funds when deterioration on the boat's steel hull along the riveting seams proved to be more extensive than had been evidence in the bomb possession case against the driver of the car, Sam Mandina, 29, of the 1600 block of Hogan Street. The witness said he carried the Molotov cocktail to Mandina's car when he arrived to pick him up. An hour later McDonough and Rangel stopped the automobile in the 3200 block of Chippewa Street on traffic violations and found the explosive device in a lunch pail in the car. Last May, a bomb possession charge against the witness was dropped.

Mandina, whose trial begins Monday, was indicted by a grand jury. The case against the man arrested Wednesday will be presented to the grand jury again, police said. had said she had embezzled $40,000 from the company and feared that her employer had become suspicious, police said. Mrs. Elsea worked at Heintz for three or four years, where she ran a "one-person office" and had access to payroll records, police said.

"She let it be known that she was looking for somebody" to kill her boss, Jacobsmeyer said. Police learned that Emerson was to get $5,000 for the contract killing and that he already had been paid in pari. "Apparently she felt he wasn't living up to the obligation," Jacobsmeyer said. "I think the purpose of the meeting was that he was going to let her know that he had killed this guy," Jacobsmeyer said. But police said that they believe Emerson had become fearful that Mrs.

Elsea would turn him into police and that he had "decided to get rid of her." On Dec. 12, Mrs. Elsea was found fatally shot in the chest and right cheek in her still-idling car in the 3400 block of North Ninth Street, less than a half-hour after she had made a deposit at Bremen Bank Trust 3529 North Broadway. She and her husband, Danny, a St. Louis firefighter, lived in the 3400 block of Concord Place in Baden.

Police said that at about noon, Mrs. not make the additional loan. He said Boatmen's executive H. Parker Smith cited the "between $2.5 million and $2.7 million" Streckfus already owes for extensive renovation of the Admiral and the New Orleans-based President several years ago. And Carroll said that Boatmen's had withdrawn its commitment for the $750,000 loan.

In a prepared statement issued Wednesday, Boatmen's defended its decision to refuse a new loan, but said it are collected by the county, are losing money because of county banking policies. He contends that the local governments lose as much as $2 million a year. Lucks said the county has a critical need to arrange for depositories because it may have to borrow for short periods a total of $80 million in 1980, starting about March 15. Traditionally, the county has put its active funds and those it collects for municipalities, school districts and other jurisdictions in accounts that do not pay interest. In return, the.

banks make short-term loans to the county at no interest. But since last February, the county has invested overnight funds in accounts used to pay bills. These investments in federal Treasury issues earned the additional $400,000, he said. The county also has decided to send funds collected by the county to local jurisdictions every 10 days in November, December and January. County collections for local jurisdictions are highest in those Judith Elsea Robbed and killed said.

Police said they found a loaded automatic pistol in Mrs. Elsea 's purse. Although the driver's door of her car was locked, they said they found the passenger door unlocked. "It appeared she had a planned meeting with someone," Jacobsmeyer said. Jacobsmeyer praised the work of Detective Sgts.

Thomas Rowane and Al LaGates and Detectives Sal Chrum, John Moriarty, Colin McCoy, and Ron Lingle. Charged With Rape A youth has been chareed in the ran Breakthrough Is Reached Own 9Hit Man' Killed Woman, Police Say In County Budget Conflict 's In Interest The funds collected for other jurisdictions cannot be turned over to them any sooner because County Collector George Leachman must make sure all checks clear banks before he can spend the money, Wehrle said. Young promptly responded to Wehrle's1 opinion in a letter to the council. He suggested the council hire an outside attorney for a court test on the matter. In December, the county tried to revise past banking practices by asking banks to allow it to obtain one loan for the entire year.

The county would pay interest about 6 percent on that loan, but would reinvest the money so it would earn at least 10 percent interest until funds were needed to pay bills. But bond attorneys advised the county and banks that the proposal would violate federal regulations and might jeopardize the county's bond rating. The council, on the advice of County Executive Gene McNary, rejected bids on bank depositories based on that proposal. adopted. The Highway Department, Corcoran said, cannot let contracts with that limitation.

Corcoran said he hopes that the council can adopt a budget by March the fiscal year began Jan. 1. The agreement was reached in a negotiating session this morning. Bills carrying out the agreement were scheduled to be introduced at a council meeting later today. On another fiscal matter, McNary said Hospital Affiliates Inc.

did "an outstanding job" in managing County Hospital's finances and administration from 1976-79. The company, McNary said in a statement Wednesday, "effectively reduced the cost of running the hospital and (has) served our citizens well with improved patient care." The County Council in December rejected McNary's request that the county hire the company for another three years. McNary's comments came as the company issued its final report on its work at County Hospital. The company noted that cash revenue at the hospital had increased by 37 percent to nearly $8.8 million in 1979 in its tenure at the hospital. The company did not indicate how much of the increase was the result of increased charges and how much came as a result of improved accounting and bill-collecting procedures.

In Two Holdups deputies and De Soto police. He is being held in the St. Louis County jail in Clayton in lieu of $7,500 bond on a By Phil Sutin Of the Post-Dispatch Staff St. Louis County earned an additional $400,000 in interest income in 1979 because of changes in its banking practices, county officials say. But the changes are making the county a less attractive customer for banks, they add.

That information is part of a defense of county banking policies made Wednesday by John A. Lucks, director of administration, and Thomas W. Wehrle, county counselor. They, sent memorandums to the County Council in response to criticisms of county banking practices by Ronald L. Young, county auditor.

Lucks and Wehrle said they hope the documents will persuade the council to approve low bids of banks to become depositories for county funds in 1980. The council last week delayed action on depositories after receiving Young's critical report. Young said both the county and the local governmental units, whose taxes Larry W. Emerson Charged in killing Elsea had stopped at the bank to deposit about $90 for herself and $1,000 for her company. She also had asked for change for two $100 bills, telling a bank clerk that she wanted to use the money for Christmas shopping, police said.

Police said Mrs. Elsea was holding a pen in her hand and had bank papers in her lap when her body was discovered. Although robbery appeared to be the motive for the killing, police said they became suspicious immediately. "It just didn't look like an out-and-out murder-robbery," Jacobsmeyer Woodrow Avenue in Velda Village. He is being tried for burglary, robbery, kidnapping and attempted rape before Judge Herbert Lasky.

The sister is a widow who lives with the partly paralyzed victim. She said her sister's assailant was armed with "the biggest gun I ever saw" when he entered their bedrooms after forcing open the rear door. He forced the 75-year-old woman to remain in her room while he robbed her sister of $85 and then attempted to rape her, she testified. i if i By Phil Sutin Of the Post-Dispatch Staff A major part of the budget conflict between County Executive Gene McNary and the Democratic majority on the County Council appeared to be resolved today when Council Chairman George "Jerry" Corcoran agreed to McNary's proposals for highway and parks spending and for setting the tax rate for debt service at 6 cents for each $100 of assessed valuation. i The agreement restores a proposal to allot $4.4 million in surplus transportation sales tax funds to finance highway activities.

The council had rejected that proposal in December. The transportation sales tax funds are used mainly to subsidize bus service. Still in dispute are financing for Juvenile Court, health and hospital programs. Corcoran, a Democrat from St. Ann, said the budget for federal revenue-sharing funds was left unresolved so that the federal funds could be used to finance the programs that the council Democrats want.

Corcoran said he had agreed to McNary's highway budget and to using the transportation tax money because the Highway Department needs a budget to continue road work. Under the charter, the county is spending one-twelfth of its 1979 budget each month until a new budget is By Abby Cohn Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Judith Elsea, a 33-year-old office worker, had parked her car on a Near North Side street shortly after noon Dec. 12 expecting to hear a report from the man she had hired to kill her boss, police say. Instead, police say, Mrs. Elsea was slain by her own "hit man." The suspect, Larry W.

Emerson, 30, of the 10000 block of Diamond Drive in Riverview, was charged Wednesday with capital murder and robbery in warrants issued by the circuit attorney's office. He was arraigned this morning, when bond was set at $110,000. Emerson's arrest Tuesday ended a 2-month police investigation. Police say that they have recovered a revolver used in the killing and that they have obtained a confession from Emerson. Capt.

Norman Jacobsmeyer of the homicide division said Emerson told police that he was hired by Mrs. Elsea to kill her boss at Heintz Steel Manufacturing 3300 Hall Street. Jacobsmeyer declined to identify the boss, but said he was unaware of the alleged plot against him until he was informed by police. According to Emerson, Mrs. Elsea Woman Hun In Crash her purse and diamond ring early today by two men who offered her a ride to a hospital after she was involved in a minor accident, police say.

The victim was Ellen R. Schroeder, 43. She lost control of her car about 1:30 a.m. and struck a bridge abutment on westbound Interstate 70 near the exit for Interstate 270. Mrs.

Schroeder flagged down a car driven by two men who helped push her car out of the way of traffic. She told police that the men offered to take her to DePaul Communty Health Center In Bridgeton. Defendant Identified In Court FBI Reports Recovery Of Most In Robbery, Attempted Rape Of $17,000 Taken FBI agents say they have recovered of a 20-year-old woman who was forced from a north St. Louis bus stop in November. Eddie Harper, 17, of the 3800 block of Lincoln Avenue, was charged with committing the rape on Nov.

27 in warrants issued Wednesday. The woman had reported to police that she had been waiting for a Bi-State bus on North Grand Boulevard at Kossuth Avenue about 11 p.m. when a man with a handgun accosted her and forced her to a vacant lot, where he raped her. 4 more than half of the $17,000 that was taken in two robberies this month at the Plaza Bank of West Port in Maryland Heights. An FBI spokesman said the money was found in the mobile home of a De Soto man who was arrested Tuesday night and charged Wednesday with the robberies.

The spokesman would not say exactly how much money was recovered. Bennett Orville Walker 31, was arrested at his home by FBI agents, Jefferson County Sheriff's Department Clarence Maurice Ford, 21, was pointed out in court Wednesday as the armed man who broke into the home of a 69-year-old crippled woman in Velda Village on Sept. 2 and attempted to rape her. The victim's sister, 75, at first told the jury in St. Louis County Circuit Court that she was unsure whether the assailant was in the courtroom.

But later in her testimony, she walked over to the table where Ford was sitting and identified him. Ford lives in the 6500 block of separate charge of attempted stealing. In that case, Walker is accused of being the man who unsuccessfully tried to extort money Jan. 28 from Airport Limousine Service, 6116 Natural Bridge Road. Walker, who worked for the limousine company, allegedly wrote a note demanding money and threatening to harm employees if it did not comply.

The bank robberies occurred Feb. 1 and Feb. 16. 1.