St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 12

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH METRO THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1998 www.postnet.com School continues generous tradition 0 Mitchell, a custodian at canned goods and raised Board Overlay board opposes 'student bill of rights' Continued from Page B1 dall Cahill, would say only that the student bill of rights violated the U.S. and Missouri constitutions. Williams had planned to hold a meeting by telephone to vote on the matter, then said the meeting was not needed. "I trust his legal she said.

"If he says that, we agree with him. We will not put it on the ballot." Bauer, the author of the student bill of rights, said the measure won't create a new system of segregated schools and predicted that his plan would lead to a building boom in the city. He said the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade system has several advantages. It allows older siblings to walk a younger child home and doesn't force a parent to split time between a middle and elementary school. "As a practical matter, if this Man who killed wife, self was Their children witnessed struggle; dead woman's mother saw trouble signs BY DENISE HOLLINSHED Ofthe Post-Dispatch Olin McDonald, who fatally shot his wife Monday night, had threatened to kill himself several times, his mother-in-law said Wednesday.

After killing Ramonna McDonald, 26, at his mother's house in East St. Louis, Olin McDonald, 26, then committed suicide. The couple's two children, Kyerra, 8, and Olin 5, watched as their parents struggled with the pistol before McDonald dragged his wife into the bathroom and locked the door. Delcie Johnson, Ramonna's mother, said in an interview that she had seen signs that Olin McDonald was troubled. Johnson, 68, said Olin McDonald once left a note saying he would kill himself at Ramonna's apartment at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

Ramonna McDonald had left the McDonald home and moved to the campus in April to pursue a master's degree in biology. Evelyn Johnson, Ramonna's sister, described Olin McDonald as "very "Everywhere she (Ramonna) went, he wanted to be there," Evelyn Johnson said. Evelyn Johnson said her sister turned down a good job in chemistry because her husband did not want her working late. St. Louis baker dies from burns she suffered Tuesday in flash fire BY TIM O'NEIL said investigators don't know if Ofthe Post-Dispatch Maria Mondovic was trying to relight the series of pilot lights or the A woman who was severely rows of burners, which are much burned while trying to light a com- larger.

Police plan to interview mercial oven in her family's John Mondovic after the funeral to neighborhood bakery died learn more about how they norWednesday in Barnes-Jewish mally operated their ovens. Hospital. George Palfi of Arnold, a son-inMaria Mondovic, 47, suffered law, said John Mondovic "doesn't burns over more than 90 percent remember very much. It hapof her body in a flash fire before pened so quickly. He just: saw her dawn Tuesday at Mondovic's Bak- on fire." ery, 3569 Minnesota Avenue.

St. Police suspect a flaw in a standLouis police said Mondovic was ard safety switch that is supposed engulfed in flames because the to stop the flow of gas if the burnoven was filled with natural gas. ers go out. Sorocko said 1 he will She was pronounced dead at wait for insurance investigators to 11:05 a.m. Wednesday in the hos- arrive before taking apart the ovpital's burn unit.

en's fuel system to investigate. Mondovic and her husband, The Mondovics specialized in John Mondovic, 62, had owned Hungarian and European breads, and operated the bakery in the cookies and pastries. In recent city's Dutchtown neighborhood for years, they have served the South almost 21 years. They bought it Side's growing community of Bosshortly after they moved here nian and Croatian refugees. from Hungary, their native coun- In addition to her husband of 26 try.

years, Maria Mondovic is survived John Mondovic suffered burns by two daughters, Marianne to his hands and was treated at the Vincze of Phoenix, and Kahospital and released Tuesday. talin Palfi of Arnold; one son, Tom The fire caused only minor Mondovic of Delaware, Ohio; and damage to the oven and bakery. two sisters, Vera Orosz and ZsuzPolice said John Mondovic light- sanna Orosz, both of Hungary. ed the large oven at 3:15 a.m., but Visitation will be from 3 p.m. to his wife told him a half-hour later 9 p.m.

Sunday at the Kutis Funeral that the oven was not heating up. Home at 10151 Gravois Road in She entered the oven service door Affton. A funeral Mass will be celto relight the oven, when a buildup ebrated at 10 a.m. Monday at St. of natural gas was ignited and Mary of Victories Catholic flashed around her.

Church, 744 South Third Street Police Sgt. Steve Sorocko, super- near downtown. Burial arrangevisor of the bomb and arson unit, ments were pending. Courtney 450 Hemstead Elementary in St. Louis, helps Delores Bowman load food $500 to help less fortunate students and their families.

The collection is a goes on the ballot, it will pass over- But the financial backing whelmingly," he said. proved Monday by Civic Progress Superintendent Cleveland Ham- depends on what kind of agreemonds Jr. eliminated a system of ment is reached in the desegregakindergarten-through-eighth- tion settlement talks and whether grade schools in Birmingham, the agreement occurs before when he was the superintendent end of the year, said Richard there, in favor of a system of ele- Liddy, the group's president. mentary schools for kindergarten Liddy declined to exactly and middle say through fifth grades how much the would schools for sixth through eighth group pledge, Hammonds said it is easier but said "it's a six-figure grades. the proper classes for indicating that it would be at least to provide grades six to eight in a separate $100,000.

Liddy did not indicate school. what kind of settlement would "I know the promoter has good acceptable to the group, but added, intentions, but I believe education- "This has to be something the peoally our system is Ham- ple of St. Louis want." monds said. Settlement talks have heated Meanwhile, Civic Progress, the in recent days as the attorneys influential business group, has the various parties the St. Louis agreed to provide money for a School Board and suburban discampaign to pass the tax referen- tricts, the NAACP, the state dum that will appear on the Feb.

2 Missouri and the federal governballot if an agreement in the ment try to meet the end of desegregation talks is reached by deadline set by Civic Progyear Dec. 31. ress. The tax proposal will ask city Another group expected to assist voters whether to raise the sales in the campaign for the tax is the tax to help pay the cost of desegregating school systems in St. Louis Black Roundtable.

ChairBusiness and county. The increase man Richard K. Gaines, a former would be two-thirds of a penny School Board president, said the and is expected to raise about $23 group's help would probably million a year. limited to helping get out the vote. FAMILY PHOTO In a family photo taken in 1994 are: Olin.

McDonald, wife Ramonna and children Olin Jr. and Kyerra. Olin McDonald shot his wife to death Monday night and then fatally shot himself. Olin McDonald taught black studies and geography at Metropolitan Community College in East St. Louis and was close to getting his master's degree in history from SIUE.

When his father died, the couple moved in with his mother, Ruthie McDonald. "I told her not to do that -it will be a problem," Delcie Johnson recalled. She said her daughter left her husband at one point and saved $4,000 and bought herself a car. "She said she was tired," John- WAYNE CROSSLIN POST-DISPATCH into her car. The school collected tradition of 16 years at the school.

Officials warn of carbon monoxide Deadly gas is cited in 2 incidents here this week BY LANCE WILLIAMS Ofthe Post-Dispatch It's colorless, tasteless and odorless, but it can kill within hours if it's not detected. Carbon monoxide has been responsible for making at least two St. Louis County families get medical treatment this week, and authorities are asking area homeowners to protect themselves from this deadly gas. Late Tuesday night, a Florissant family was evacuated from their home in the 1400 block of Thoroughbred Lane after firefighters found high levels of carbon monoxide. The carbon monoxide level was measured at 600 parts per million.

Most experts say 35 parts per million is the maximum exposure for people over an extended period of time, said Ed McCormick, deputy fire chief for the Florissant Valley Fire District. The children in the family were asleep in the basement near the furnace when firefighters arrived. Firefighters also were called to a home in the 10100 block of Ashbrook Drive in Bellefontaine Neighbors on Wednesday morning shortly before 9 a.m. because of possible carbon monoxide poisoning. Both residents in the home had to be helped outside by firefighters because they already were disoriented from exposure to the gas, said Capt.

Joe Bommarito of the Riverview Fire District. They were taken to the hospital for observation. Bommarito said the two people in the home had already been exposed to the gas for nearly three hours, and that any more exposure could have been lethal. Each year, more than 250 people are killed in the United States because of carbon monoxide poisoning. The deadly gas can be generated by incomplete combustion of fuels in gasoline-powered engines, kerosene heaters and wood-burning stoves.

Furnaces should be checked Fire officials say the best safeguard is to buy a detector and make sure it is installed correctly. McCormick said it is also a good idea for homeowners to have their furnaces checked twice a year to make sure they are working properly. Carbon monoxide combines with blood hemoglobin and essentially deprives the body of oxygen. It can result in brain damage or death after only a few hours of concentrated exposure, McCormick said. Symptoms of early carbon monoxide poisoning include nausea, fatigue, lightheadedness, headaches, chest pain and fainting.

Tuberculosis Student battles TB; others may be infected Continued from Page B1 Larry E. Fields, director of the St. Louis Department of Health and Hospitals. Fields said that the student's "household contacts" those who spent the most time with him while he was believed to have been infectious have already been identified. Typically, such contacts are tested immediately and may also be given antibiotics to prevent the disease from spreading.

Last year, St. Louis recorded more TB cases than at any time over the last decade. Despite that, the student is believed to have contracted his infection elsewhere, most likely overseas. Tuberculosis kills millions around the world every year more people, in fact, than AIDS or any other contagious disease. During the 19th century, it was at epidemic levels in many American cities, spread by people who lived and worked in cramped, unsanitary conditions.

With the development of antibiotics, the disease began to decline in the United States. But it reemerged in a deadlier, drug-resistant form in the late 1980s among AIDS patients and drug users on the East and West coasts. Fields said that doctors have no reason to suspect the student has a drug-resistant form of the disease. Still, they started him on a regimen of four antibiotics, as is standard practice in most cases. Tuberculosis is caused by a bacteria that most often infects the lungs.

It is spread by breathing in tiny droplets of fluid sprayed into the air an infected person coughs or sneezes. Typically, infection requires repeated close contact with a tuberculosis patient. Even then, only about 10 percent of those with the infection develop what are called active cases, where they become sick and are able to spread the disease. If people with active cases remain untreated, about half will die and another 25 percent will develop chronic illness. With treatment, fatalities are rare.

People who don't develop active cases will continue to harbor the bacteria and will test positive for the disease. They can "convert," or develop active cases, if their immune system is weakened by stress or other illness. In that way, many foreign-born residents who were exposed to the bacteria as children overseas later become sick while living in the United States. son said. "I told her sometimes you have to work it out for yourself.

I'm not going to tell you to leave or stay." Johnson said she was devastated by her daughter's murder. "She was shot in both her arms," she said, demonstrating how her daughter may have crossed her arm in an attempt to shield herself from bullets. "She was shot in the head near her ear. My little girl is dead now. I'm hurting about the way she was shot up.

"Please pray for me." A Get the Year's Best in One Delicious Section! Get all your favorite recipes from this year's Food Sections in your copy of the January 4th Post-Dispatch. It's a cornucopia of taste-bud tantalizing recipes spanning 1998. Look no further for indulgent desserts, delectable dishes perfect for nightly dinners with the family or fun fare for that rowdy Superbowl party you plan to throw! The Year's Favorite Recipes January 4th ST. LOUIS POST- DISPATCH.