St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 6

ft 3 FEB 22 1989 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1989 I 8A REGION ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH KDNL Drugs audience, making it the fifth-ranked of St. Louis's five commercial television stations. KPLR, KDNL's chief competitor, was ranked fourth and attracted an average of 11 percent of the audience. KSDK (Channel 5), which ranks first in the market, attracted an average of 32 percent Stanley G.

Mouse, president of Cox Broadcasting, said in announcing the sale that KDNL "does not fit the profile of our other television stations." Five of Cox's eight television stations are network affiliates; two are independents that operate local news departments in San Francisco and Detroit, two of the largest television markets in the nation. KDNL is not a network affiliate and has no news department; St. Louis is ranked as the nation's 18th-largest television market. A source with the Cox company said Baker said he thought KDNL had "tremendous potential to become an even more significant competitor in the St. Louis television industry.

As the Fox Network continues to grow and the station's program library is expanded, KDNL's future is assured." Fox Broadcasting provides KDNL with five hours of programming each week on Saturday and Sunday nights. Several times over the last two years, Fox has announced plans to expand to a third night, only to postpone those plans. Fox says it will offer stations a package of feature films for broadcast on Tuesday nights beginning sometime this spring and additional programming on Monday nights beginning in the fall. According to the January Arbitron television ratings for St. Louis, KDNL's weekly schedule attracted an average of 5 percent of the viewing From page one through Communications Equity an investment banking and brokerage firm based in Tampa, Fla.

Shortly after forming Better Communications, Baker and Marcus to buy KPLR and KRBK from Edward J. Koplar, president of Koplar Enterprises. Koplar rejected the offer i and fired both men, citing a conflict of interest in their working for Koplar while trying to acquire stations of liii ftheirown. c- the FCC approves Better fnications' purchase of KDNL, the wri principal competitor for Baker and Marcus will be the station they tried to buy. Asked about that, Baker said: v-1 "You can only buy what people are ri.i; willing to sell." C'l Baby said the case at the James River plant was considered "an internal investigation of the plant." He said he was not pursing criminal prosecution of any of those alleged to have been involved.

Wolf said his department was reached last summer by plant officials and told of the impending investigation. He said that he had assigned detectives to investigate the Los Angeles-based security firm being hired by James River and that the detectives had determined that it was a "reputable firm" that had been involved in similar investigations across the United States. Employees identified the company as a Los Angeles company. But directory assistance listed no listing of the company. Wolf said he had told company officials that he wanted to get involved if the company decided to pursue criminal charges.

Wolf said security company employees cannot legally go undercover to purchase drugs. Meanwhile, Bob Barrett, a union steward at the plant, said this week that he never had seen any employee use cocaine on company property as was reported in a Post-Dispatch story on Saturday. He said that he once had seen a person snorting cocaine inside a van, but that was not on company property. All the former employees interviewed on Tuesday said they felt they should have been given a second chance. They said it will be difficult for them to find new jobs.

They said they would have jumped at a chance to go through a drug rehabilitation program, if they could have kept their jobs. "What makes us any different than the million-dollar-a-year athletes who are offered rehabilitation two or three times and still keep their jobs?" Hagen asked. Some of the fired workers said they were told by investigators that the miniature microphones were placed in lockers in the restroom area of the plant. They said they believe video cameras also may have been in the restroom area. A 25-year-old fired worker from St.

Louis County who had worked at the plant for five years and asked not to be identified said, "The company should have offered us rehabilitation, ordered drug testing. "I know I did something wrong, but I'm willing to try to change. "If the rest of America addresses the drug problem like James River, the unemployment rate is going to skyrocket. The government is going to be supporting all of us." From page one Most said they had good work- records at the plant and had never been in any trouble before the firing. "If I had to characterize this in one word, that word would be said Aldon Shell, 36, of St.

Ann, who had worked at the plant almost 16 years before he was fired last week. "It's a witch hunt; it's spooky," Shell said. "You don't know how far into your lives they have reached. Where does this stop?" Doug Collins, 32, of St. Charles, who was fired after nearly 10 years at the company, said: "It's like corporate Big Brother." Tim Hagen, 32, of Wentzville, who had worked at the plant for more than eight years, said: "For the rest of my life, I'm going to have a hard time going anywhere, doing anything, without wondering if there's a camera pointed at me, a microphone listening to what I'm saying.

"Can I still have a private conversation in my own house with my wife?" Nine employees who had been fired were interviewed Tuesday by the Post-Dispatch. All gave their names to a reporter, but most asked that their names be withheld, either because they were trying to find other jobs or because family members were unaware that they had been fired. All nine said they had been told by investigators that there was a chance they could keep their jobs if they were completely honest about past drug use or thefts and if they would incriminate fellow workers. They said on Tuesday that they believed that the company never had any intention of keeping that promise. "I was led to believe I would be able to keep my job," Collins said.

"They told me, 'Doug, I don't see any problem here; you're telling the truth. You're a seldom They said they didn't even see any need for me to go through drug rehabilitation." Most of those interviewed on Tuesday acknowledged that they had smoked marijuana occasionally on the job. One, who asked not to be named, admitted stealing about $500 worth of material from the plant in the last two years. Another admitted that he had used cocaine at the plant. One other employee who was fired admitted to having a "drug problem" and said he sought counseling the day after he was fired.

Hazelwood Police Chief Carl Wolf 9 From page one Sunday morning, Lindsey said. Bruises around her head were visible then, he said. Margaret Tolbert told police that she had put the baby to bed about -midnight, after giving her a dose of told medicine. She said that the baby had started crying about 3 a.m. and that she had checked her then, tij'." Lindsey said the mother had been sleeping on a couch downstairs, while -isT the baby slept upstairs in a crib near r-jgt.

her father. Lindsey said Michael Tol-ww had reported that he and his wife suit iwere sleeping separately because they had had a fight, i.nir'i Lindsey said when the mother went to check on the baby again, about 3 iii a.m., she found a sheet wrapped eM -around the child. She said the baby ivy -had not been moving and had felt cold ui rto her touch. Mrs 1 The father confessed in an eight-ui'I page statement, Lindsey said. In that statement, Michael Tolbert said he 'i-had hit the baby in the face and head u'v, with his hands, Lindsey said.

Lindsey also said the baby's mother li'v'had been exonerated of any wrongdoing. M'-i According to police sources, Michel vael Tolbert has a prior conviction for burglary in Ector County, Texas, vt where the family lived a few years i ago. He got an eight-year prison sen-i" Im Baker Marcus that KDNL had lost a considerable amount of money in the seven years of Cox's ownership. Some of the losses were attributable to a failed subscription television operation in the last half of 1982. That venture alone cost Cox at least $5 million to $6 million when the subscription plan collapsed after only nine months.

Asked about the license revocation and conviction, Maminta said: "That has nothing to do with my competence. The of fee of the AIDS testing is a private matter between me and the dentists." Maminta also has had problems in Illinois. Seven years ago, he was permanently barred from taking part in the Medicaid program there. Dan Pittman, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Public Aid, said the department found in 1981 that Maminta was running an unlicensed laboratory under the name St Louis Medical Laboratory and was failing to keep proper records. The department permanently barred him from partici-patlon in the state's Medicaid program.

Pittman said the department found that the laboratory was charging the state for blood tests not ordered by physicians. "He was billing us for services that probably were not performed," Pittman said. "He was billing us for tests no one had requested. "He was ordered to pay us back $30,000, which he has failed to do," Pittman said. Maminta responded: "That wasn't a personal thing; it was a corporation.

I had nothing to do with it. It was not mine to pay." He said also that the department was wrong about the disputed blood tests; he said doctors had ordered the tests. He belongs to the College of American Pathologists, Maminta said. In his written proposal to test dentists and their staffs for the AIDS virus, Maminta's signature is followed by the initials F.C.A.P., a designation indicating that he is a Fellow of the College of American Pathologists. "He is not a member of our organization," said Susan Couture, director of membership for the College of American Pathologists.

"He should not be using that designation. That is a falsification. He was dropped for nonpayment of dues." Couture said Maminta was dropped from the organization in 1982. Maminta acknowledged later in the interview that he no longer was a member of the organization. Doctor From page one informs people how they can avoid becoming infected with the virus.

The law requires that the names of infected people be reported to the Missouri Department of Health. The state's health director, Dr. Robert Harmon, said Tuesday that the department was scrutinizing Mamin-ta's service. "We are going to be sending a letter to Dr. Maminta informing him of the reporting rule and of the counseling law Harmon said.

The state requires agencies that test for AIDS to provide counseling. Maminta has had difficulties with health authorities, legal documents show. According to court records, Maminta was indicted in 1987 on federal charges of forgery and interfering with mail, both felonies, and running an unlicensed laboratory, a misdemeanor. Prosecutors accused him of cashing a Medicare reimbursement check in the amount of $8,495.92 that had been intended for another physician but was mailed to him by mistake. Maminta was alleged to have forged the doctor's name.

Last year, Maminta pleaded guilty of interfering with mail and running an unlicensed laboratory. Prosecutors dropped the forgery charge, and he was placed on probation for three years. As a result of his conviction, the Department of Health and Human Services suspended Maminta from the Medicare and Medicaid programs for 10 years. Maminta said he would appeal the suspension, but added, "I can do without Medicaid or Medicare." State authorities took action against Maminta's license after his criminal conviction. William Morgan, investigator for the Board of Healing Arts, said that because of the conviction, the board revoked Maminta's license to practice medicine for 60 days beginning last June.

Morgan said that after the suspension, Maminta's license was restored on a probationary basis. He refused to disclose the length of the probation. Deputy's Arm Broken "Where America Goes To Party" OTH A Jefferson County sheriffs deputy suffered a broken arm in a scuffle "rJ early Tuesday morning with a south St. Louisan on the rooflof a National V' "Super Market near High Ridge, au-thoritiessay. -f! Anthony P.

Cassaday, 22, of the 3300 block of Itaska Street, was charged with one count each of second-degree resisting arrest, driving while intoxicated and destruction of ty, and four counts of third-degree w- assault in warrants issued Tuesday by the Jefferson County Circuit Court. Capt. Ed Kemp of the Sheriff's Department gave this account: Cassaday hit a gasoline pump with. "iV his car at the intersection of Route PP PARTY TODAY FEB. 22 thru FEB.

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North You're There! 2744500 FREE SHUTTLE SERVICE AVAILABLE TJ ll Michael H. Tolbert Confessed, police say tence for that conviction and served time in a prison in Texas. Police said Michael Tolbert had lived in St. Charles for about two years and had had at least two jobs in that period. He was unemployed at the time of his arrest, officials said.

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney John Zimmerman said that Michael Tolbert's statements described the events of the day and weeks before and portrayed "a person who is getting angrier and angrier with his situation." The statements also indicated Michael Tolbert had financial problems, Zimmerman said. Zimmerman said he felt the single charge of second-degree murder was "solid." The maximum penalty for the Class-A felony is life in prison. In Scuffle On Roof and Highway 30 about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. Cassaday fled from the scene after fighting with a sheriffs deputy and was seen a short time later on the roof of the nearby National supermarket.

The area is on the western edge of High Ridge. Several deputies were trying to subdue Cassaday when he shoved Deputy Steven Sandler, 39, Kemp said. Sandler fell over a ventilator shaft on the roof and broke his arm in two places, requiring surgery Tuesday morning at St. Anthony's Medical Center in south St. Louis County.

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