St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 58

15 WAR 51989 FINAL On Today's Editorial Page State Holds Key To Stadium tttitttriitt Not Liquor Or Women But Integrity Eililorinl Vol. Ill, No. 64 SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 1989 3 Copyright 1989 1.00 flunk fUl cr mi Picket Lines Honored; Skeleton Schedule Fails 1 1 1 Jk -J-- Compiled From News Services MIAMI Striking Eastern Airlines Machinists paralyzed the financially troubled carrier Saturday, overwhelming management's efforts to run a skeleton schedule. Eastern managers thought they had prepared for the strike by the 9,300 Machinists by hiring 'non-unionists arjd slashing the weekend schedule by up' to 75 percent. when most pilots and flight at-" tehdants honored the Machinists' pfcket lines, it threw the company's strike plan into disarray.

'Eastern said it flew only 85 flights Saturday. That compared with Eastern's goal of around 2(10 flights under its strike contingency plan and with ljOOO flights under a normal Saturday schedule. fit isn't the greatest day" for Eastern, company spokesman Robin Ma-tell said at a news conference. "As it stands now, things are not working out the way we had planned. "We were relying on what the pilots were telling us," Matell said.

"Obviously, in that sense, it was -a miscalculation." Union leaders said no more than 30 of Eastern's 3,600 union pilots had crossed picket lines. Before the strike, Eastern estimated that fioO union pilots and 200 supervisory pilots would be available for work. Uniformed pilots even set up their own picket lines, marching alongside red-shirted Machinists. Most of Eastern's 4,800 flight attendants also staved away. All told, 17.700 of Eastern's 31,200 employees either were on strike or ordered to honor picket lines.

The Federal Aviation Administration reported no safety problems Saturday. And aside from heavier patronage, there was no major impact on other air and rail' carriers. But those carriers were bracing for picketing, slowdowns and other sympathy actions threatened for early this week. At a late-afternoon news conference, Matell said the airline expected more of its pilots to report for work Sunday. But Ron Cole, an Eastern pilots union spokesman, said: "It's very clear the airline isn't going to fly without us.

The ball is In management's court." In Washington, John Peterpaul, general vice president of the Machinists, said union officials were mapping prospective sites for secondary picketing Monday, especially at commuter railroads. But Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner said President George Bush's administration would seek emergency legislation, if necessary, to bar strikers from broadening their protest to "hold American industry See STRIKE, Pge8 0 lit mi Webb picketing at Lambert Field Collapse With Home Builder Lambert Security Expanded By Philip Dine Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Machinists for Eastern Airlines picketed at Lambert Field on Saturday under the gaze of an airport police force that had been more than doubled to prevent trouble. Workers for other airlines offered words of encouragement for strikers, but kept working at least for the time being. Relatively few travelers here appeared to have been affected Friday night and Saturday, because Eastern has only seven arrivals and seven departures each day. Eastern announced Friday that it was suspending flights to some cities, including St.

Louis, over the weekend. The Impact of the strike, which began at 11 p.m. Friday, has been limited in St. Louis so far because Eastern carries only a small fraction of the total traffic at Lambert. Trans World Airlines accounts for about 80 percent of the flights at the airport.

Although TWA does not accept Eastern tickets, other airlines at Lambert do, an Eastern ticket agent said. "It's highly unusual," said Carolyn Yokel. On Friday night, she said, "we were no longer able to reroute people See LAMBERT, Page 8 Warner, Time Inc. To Merge NEW YORK (AP) Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc.

have agreed to combine In an "old-fashioned merger," creating an $18 billion company that would be the world's largest media and entertainment empire, It was announced Saturday. The resulting conglomerate, Time Warner would Include publishing, film, cable TV and music interests with estimated annual revenue of $10 billion, the companies said. 1 The company would surpass Rupert Murdoch's Australian-based News Corp. as the world's biggest media company. "There's never been a deal like this in the media business," said John S.

Reidy, an analyst at Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. "This Is going to be a frlghteningly powerful company." Some of America's most famous names would combine forces if the deal Is concluded. The merger requires shareholder and regulatory approval. Time Is the nation's leading magazine company, with such titles as Time, People and Sports Illustrated, along with Time-Life Books and the Book-of-the-Month Club. Time also owns two of the nation's largest pay-cable television networks, HBO and Cinemax.

Warner has major movie and television production interests, including Warner Brothers and Warner Brothers Television and Warner Cable Communications. Clint Eastwood and Barbra Streisand are regulars with Warner, and Steven Spielberg makes some of his See MERGER, Page 7 Jerry Naunheim Jr.Post-Dlspatch Saturday. 4'' ny's chairman, and his brother. Alan, who is president, repeatedly have refused interviews. Recently, more than 50 home buyers filed two suits charging the Lieberman Corp.

with fraud and 7 "4 Eastern Airlines serviceman Don Dreams By Karen L. Koman Of the Post-Dispatch Staff It was to be their last and best house. Like a proud parent, Bob Stortz videotaped each stage of construction. His wife, Tracy, spent days matching fabrics and colors and selecting fixtures. The family sold its fixer-uppeT house in Manchester and moved in with relatives to wait for moving day.

But moving day never came. The Stortzes' new $140,000 house, In the Arbor Glen subdivision In west St. Louis County, was only five days from completion In January when events overtook it. Its builder, the Llebermnn announced that it could no longer pay its debts to subcontractors and tenders. On Tuesday, the Stortzes', dream house was sold to the highest bidder at the county courthouse.

Bob Stortz, a building supervisor, said his family had lost $9,000 in earnest money paid to Lieberman. The family, which has three small children, will be forced to look for an apartment. The banks "tell me to just write it off as a bad experience," Stortz said. "But It's taken me 10 years to build the equity to buy a house like this. I can't just kiss It off." The Stortzes are one of about 150 families whose lives, have been blighted by the collapse of the Lieberman empire.

The fallout also has affected many segments of business and construction. Subcontractors who are owed money by Lieberman have filed close to 800 mechanic's liens against houses and lots. The builder's half-dozen lenders have foreclosed or are in the process of doing so on lots and houses in eight subdivisions in Mayor Vincent C. Schoemehl Jr. faces former alderman Michael V.

Roberts and businessman John Noel, who is running on a lark. Roberts has blasted Schoemehl at every forum available, but Schoemehl has stuck to his much quieter "Rose Garden" strategy. Three Republicans are competing for their party's mayoral nomination, but there is no GOP candidate for comptroller. Most politicians give the lead to Schoemehl, who wants to be the third three-term mayor in the city's history. But in spite of Schoemehl's lopsided advantages in organized support and money, Roberts is fighting to the end.

The Democratic contest for comptroller, which features three candi- INSIDE Automotive Books Business Classified Editorials 43G Everyday Movie Listings News Analysis Obituaries Real Estate Reviews St. Louis Sports Travel 1G 2D JM6F 1-8T 5C 1-1 0E 2B 1-16C 13C IB 8D Kevin ManningHost-Uispatch Forest at Baxter Ridge subdivision in Chesterfield. The house was almost completed when the company folded. Kathe J. Robertson with her sons, Trent (left) and Brett, in front of a home the Lieberman Corp.

built for her at Th 2 Hope Incentives Will Lure NFL Back Candidates In City Races Push llth-Hour Efforts They are seeking millions in punitive damages. The volume of bank and subcontractor debt on the properties have made it prohibitively expensive for most buvers to corn-See HOUSES, Page 6 support is there," he said. "We don't think that is a problem." Murray and Jerry Clinton, the second partner in the expansion effort and chairman of Grey Eagle Distributing Co. in Maryland Heights, will present their proposal to the owners at their meeting March 19-24 in Palm Spring, Calif. The owners will hear proposals from up to 10 cities vying for two expansion slots expected to open up by .1991.

Two more teams could be added sometime later, giving the NFL 32 teams. "We are going to apply on the merits of St. Louis; we are not going to take a shot at anybody," Murray said. "Our job is to take what was on the table, There was a tremendous fruit basket before the league. "I can't imagine how one could See STADIUM, Page 7 San Antonio 106 Denver 89 breach of contract.

The families, some of whom have been forced to move into apartments or live with relatives, have lost earnest deposits ranging from $1,200 to more than $200,000. that they do, and they have not," said Murray, who owns 49 percent interest in the New England Patriots. Murray said the NFL owners had been "tremendously impressed" with the last-minute financial package put together by Civic Progress to prevent the Cardinals from moving to Phoenix, Ariz. "It was very, very visionary In the way the owners saw it," he said. That effort to keep the Cardinals here failed, Murray said, because "it was just too late." The Civic Progress package included guarantees of $5 million in luxury box and seat premiums, a $20 million loan backed by a non-voting ownership share in the team and up to $1 million a year to visiting teams.

Murray said he was confident that the Civic Progress offer would remain on the table for an expansion team. "We're very encouraged that the Exhibition Baseball St. Louis County and St. Charles County. Lieberman, once one of the top five builders here, has acknowledged debts exceeding $15 million.

Harold G. Lieberman, the compa-. VOTER'S GUIDE A Voter's Guide previewing Tuesday's primary election in the City of St. Louis Is included in today's editions. The guide covers elections for mayor, comptroller, aldermanic posts in 10 wards and on a financing program for sewer repairs.

See Pages 4-5B dates, offers more uncertainty. Comp-troller Virvus Jones, whom Schoemehl appointed to the job effective Dec. 15, faces challenges from Stephen -J. Conway and Peter R. Per-cich, both men in their 30s whose fathers held citywide offices a decade See VOTERS, Page 6 LOCAL No Deal State investigators say their crackdown on Clayton businessman Robert Reckiein may have kept him from bilking unsuspecting residents of Union and Hermann, where he had been planning to set up business.

PAGE 1D LOCAL Debate Over Tax Issue The St. Louis Symphony is pushing hard for a proposal that would enable it to receive property-tax income through the Zoo-Museum tax district. PAGE 1B By Tom Uhlenbrock Of the Post-Dispatch Staff The two partners working to gain an expansion football team here say they hope to present "a tremendous fruit basket" of incentives to National Football League owners at their meeting later this month. But the goodies in that basket would come courtesy of Civic Progress, and it is unclear whether the group, which consists of corporate executives, will extend the same Jinancial offer to the expansion team that it made to Cardinals owner William V. Bidwill in its unsuccessful bid to keep him from moving his team.

Fran Murray, one of the two partners, conceded at a meeting Friday with Post-Dispatch editorial writers that the commitment from Civic Progress had yet to be made. "We have not formally requested FEATURES ii.li By Tim O'Neil Of the Post-Dispatch Staff A campaign marked by dmg tests and job swapping reached its crescendo this weekend as candidates took to the streets, supermarkets and churches and the airwaves, if they had the cash. St. Louis voters will choose Democratic and Republican nominees for mayor; the Democratic nominee for comptroller; and nominees for 16 of the City's 28 aldermanic seats. The general election will be on April 4, but a lack of GOP challengers in most of the contests makes Tuesday the big day.

Polls open Tuesday at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. WEATHER Snow likely Forecast for St. Louis: Today: Freezing rain changing to snow today. High today 28.

Snow accumulation 4 to 6 inches. Snow ending tonight. Low tonight 18. Monday: Decreasing cloudiness Monday with a high of 27. Other Weather on Page 2A mi Pittsburgh 2 Cardinals 1 NHL Detroit 5 Blues 4 Montreal 6 Hartford 1 Boston 6 Vancouver 4 Quebec 6 Buffalo 2 Chicago 3 Toronto 3 Minnesota 4 NY Islanders 3 Golden St.

155Sacramento 143 CollegeBasketball St. Louis U. 72 61 Missouri 66 Colorado 65 Centre 69 Washington 68 SIUC73 Tulsa 66 SW Missouri 68" III. -Chicago 59 Arizona 89" UCLA 86 Oklahoma 103 Nebraska 76 Mit9aJll1i-owa96 Louisville 87 Notre Dame 77 Florida St. Mississippi St.

Mary 86 Portland 48 Iowa St. 101 Kansas SU39 Carol. St. 110 W. Forest 103 Baseball And Beer As he nears bis 90th birthday, August A.

Busch Jr. can look back on "a life full of happenings." PAGE 1C NBA New New York 122 Chicago 104 Jersey 98 Boston 95 Washington 119.... Dallas 105 Phoenix LA Clippers 91 Seattle 118 Philadelphia 104 POST DISPATCH WEATHERBIRD.