St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 69

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Feb. 1 0, 1 983 5F Region Illegal Gas Taps On Rise In E. St. Louis, Utility Says History Competition Is Open To Students "A society unaware of its roots is a society without roots," a history professor lamented recently in an article in the Des Moines Register.

He complained that the study of history had slipped out of fashion in high schools and junior high schools. In an effort to put history back in the spotlight in 10 PIECE COOK WARE SET it ddaud I SET INCLUDES: 1 QUART COVERED SAUCEPAN 2 QUART COVERED SAUCEPAN 3 QUART COVERED SAUCEPAN 6 QUART COVERED SAUCEP0T 10 34 INCH COVERED SKILLET REGULAR $169.99 Missouri, teachers have organized a History Day competition. It works much like the familiar school science fairs. Like science fair winners, those who win the History Day competition can move up past the district ranks to state and then national competition. This year's theme is "Turning Points in History: People, Ideas, Events." The turning point can be as broad as the French Revolution or as narrow as the decision of one ancestor to leave his homeland for the United States.

Students in grades 6 through 12 can enter in any of six categories: individual paper, individual project, group project, individual performance, group performance and media presentation (group or individual). High school entries will be judged separately from junior high school projects. Groups are limited to five students. The deadline for entry applications in St. Louis and St.

Louis County is Feb. 18. The district competition will be March 5 at St. Louis University. The city-county director is T.

Michael Rudd, who teaches history at St. Louis University. He can be reached In care of the university's History Frequently, a building where gas is being stolen also has illegal telephone, electrical and water connections, McGinnis said. Alderman O'Neal Clayborne, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, agreed to schedule a meeting with Illinois Power to discuss the problem. In other business, Capt.

Virgil Riley, president of East St. Louis Local 23, Illinois Association of Firefighters, complained to the council that a 7 percent pay raise agreed to in negotiations for 1983 and a 7 percent raise for 1984 had not been granted to firefighters. On Dec. 29 the council voted a 6 percent pay raise to all city employees except supervisors, but later delayed it pending legal work on the ordinance. Alderman Robert Mosley, personnel committee chairman, agreed to meet with firefighters about the raises.

Mayor Carl E. Officer presented to East St. Louis Detective Lenzie Stewart a Public Safety Award "as an outstanding police officer and citizen." On Saturday, when off duty, Stewart saw a man beating Stanley Rodgers to death, in Rodgers' Riverview Food Shop in northwest St. Louis. Stewart helped arrest a St.

Louis man at the scene. The suspect, Glen Hughes, has been charged with capital murder. Officials of Illinois Power Co. say illegal taps of natural gas supply lines to homes and businesses in East St. Louis have reached epidemic numbers and are dangerous and costly.

Earl Johnson and Thomas McGinnis of Illinois Power displayed to the East St. Louis Aldermanic Council on Wednesday contraband consisting of bicycle tubes and water hoses, tied with string or fastened with plumbers' putty, that they said were used to bypass gas meters. The taps had been seized by utility investigators from buildings in East St. Louis. "Let's don't let a tragedy happen," said Johnson, customer service supervisor for Illinois Power.

"In the last month we have found three very serious possibilities of explosions." None have occurred, he said. McGinnis, his assistant, said, "We had a commercial building" in violation. If it had exploded, "you wouldn't have had a town." Illinois Power uses computer printouts, tipsters and spot checks to locate gas line tampering, Johnson said. "One day a week we check about 60 installations, and find 30 to 40 percent hooked up illegally." Often, the bogus hookups leak, McGinnis said. The taps circumvent gas regulators, as well as meters, in many cases, he said.

"They have 40 pounds pressure where it should be one-quarter pound 160 times as much." Department at Xavier Hall, 221 North Grand www CHILDREN'S TABLE AND CHAIR SET .60 FOOT ROOF $14 OO AND GUTTER CABLE l'77 TROUBLE LIGHT $5.99 Boulevard, St. Louis 63103. The telephone number is 658-2918. Students in St. Charles County may apply through John Bullion of the University of Missouri History Department, Columbia, Mo.

65211. In Jefferson County, applicants can get in touch with Barry Ellis of the History Department at Jefferson College, Hillsboro, Mo. 63050. The state contest will be April 23 at Northeast Missouri State University in Kirksville. Information is available from Jerry Stremel of the Social Sciences Department, Northeast Missouri State University, Kirksville, Mo.

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For home delivery, dial 342-uoo ST.L0UIS POST-DISPATCH How to 1W Ffast Class without: payteg for it Woman Is Indicted In Girl's Abduction SPRINGFIELD, 111. (UPI) A federal grand jury has indicted a woman from California in the kidnapping of a girl last month, prosecutors said. Yvonne Johns, 29, formerly of San Bernadino, was charged Wednesday with one count of federal kidnapping, assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Cox said. If convicted, she could be sentenced to a maximum of life imprisonment.

Shanda Sue Troxell was found stuffed in a suitcase outside a medical clinic in St. Louis, two days after she was kidnapped from a day-care center in Springfield. Mrs. Johns turned herself in to federal authorities in West Memphis, shortly after the child was found. Another woman, Mary Horton, 33, Springfield, faces state charges of aggravated kidnapping in the abduction.

Authorities say they believe Ms. Horton posed as a family maid to take Shanda from the day-care center, and then gave the child to Mrs. Johns, who drove the girl to St. Louis. Mrs.

Johns, who is being held on 100,000 bond, will be arraigned Tuesday in U.S. District Court, Cox said. Debbie Troxell, Shanda's mother, said the kidnapping was triggered by police identifying her as an informant in a pending drug trial. Authorities, however, believe the kidnapping occurred because of a war between two rival prostitution gangs. Mrs.

Troxell is facing state charges of running a bawdy house and is fighting to regain custody of the child, who was placed in temporary state custody. 32 Inmates Questioned In Slaying At Pontiac PONTIAC, 111. (UPI) Authorities said they were questioning 32 inmates Wednesday in the stabbing death of a food-service supervisor at the Pontiac Correctional Center. The employee killed was Frieda King, 50, the mother of seven children. Her body was found in an office near the kitchen Tuesday night.

Michael P. Lane, director of the Department of Corrections, called the killing a "senseless and brutal murder." A spokeswoman for the facility, Dorothea Green, said authorities were questioning about 32 inmates who had had access to the kitchen area. She said the ii iE hew inn iiiim mmin-tii iiiwrrrrr nrr mm i maximum-security prison was on "tockdown" status until the investigation was completed. In that status, inmates are restricted to their cells. Lane said the slaying had occurred sometime after 5:30 p.m.

and before 6:30 p.m.,. when the body was discovered by another employee. Ms. King did not appear to have been beaten or sexually assaulted, Lane said. He said inmates had been eating dinner nearby at the time.

A knife, tentatively identified as the murder weapon, was recovered at the scene, officials said. The death was the first of an employee at the center since three guards were killed in a riot July 22, 1978. Teen-ager Dies Of Injuries Suffered In Auto Accident James Martin, 18, of the 10000 block of Willinda Drive in Concord Village, died today of injuries suffered Tuesday night when his car crashed into five other cars in the 3900 block of California Avenue. Police said Martin had been driving at high speed when he lost control of the car. Martin was taken to St.

Louis University Hospitals, where he died. Take one trip onTWA now and on your next trip well fly you first class for the price of coach. For years, TWA has helped business people move up in the world So it should come as no surprise that TWA has a special offer which lets you fly First Class for the price of coach. It's TWA's First Class Upgrade offer. Here's how it works: Between now and March 15, fly TWA GAS BOOSTER Cleans entire fuel system while you drive to St.

Louis or through St Louis to any of the cities listed below. Save your boarding passes from these flights. At least a week after your flight, turn in these qualifying boarding passes pay the unrestricted coach fare, and reserve a seat in first class. Travel must be completed by April 30. For every TWA boarding pass you turn in, you get an equal number of first class flights at the price of coach'.

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