St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 1

BEST COPY AVAILABLE Editorial Poo Confusion And Contadora Uumriml Undent andabU, But Wrong Uifrimt 0 FINAL Vol. 108, No. 145 SUNDAY, MAY 25, 1986 392 Pr. Copyright 1986 75 POST Ywi peaks Targeted! "I think the House side has enjoyed saying that they will finally make defense contractors pay taxes. Politically, there's no one who wants to save them if it costs $10 billion." at contract method would reap $10 billion in the first five years.

"I think the House side has enjoyed saying that they will finally make defense contractors pay taxes," the aide said. "Politically, there's no one who wants to save them If It costs $10 billion. If you're a member of Congress, think how many constituents you can help with $10 billion." Similar pressures may derail the Finance Committee's completed-contract language on the Senate floor, where the search Is on for revenue sources that would permit the restoration of IRAs and other popular tax deductions that the committee bill repealed or restricted. Aides to Sen. William V.

Roth said the completed-contract provision was the biggest Item on a list they've assembled of ways to offset the cost of restoring full deductibility for contributions to IRAs. Continuing IRA deductions as un- By Jon Sawyer Pott-Ditpatch Wathingon Bureau C19M, St Louit Pott-Oiapatch WASHINGTON An obscure accounting provision that is worth billions of dollars to the defense industry has emerged as a prime target of congressmen who want to amend the tax-revision bill approved this month by the Senate Finance Committee. The provision's chief defender is Sen. John Danforth, R-Mo. He supports the measure for Its merits and with an eye to the 38,000 employees in Missouri of McDonnell Douglas the state's largest employer and a key beneficiary of the provision.

The provision lets defense contractors and construction companies defer taxes on income from multlyear contracts until the contract is complete. Danforth prevailed In the Finance Committee. But steering the provision through the legislative shoals that remain will require, as Danforth's aides concede, "a fight at every stage." Many congressional participants say that the wrangle over the com-pleted-contract method Illustrates the behind-the-scenes jostling over what could be the most significant rewriting of tax law in decades. ft To Its opponents, the completed-contract method is an accounting flim-flam. They say giant defense contractors have exploited It for years to escape federal Income taxes.

Proponents say that abuses have been corrected and that repeal would tax contractors on projected income years before they receive it But with the full Senate scheduled to take up the tax bill June 3, the fate of the provision may come down to simple politics: whether defense con- follow Senate passage of a tax bill. If the Senate falls to repeal the completed-contract method, Stark's aides say, he will Insist on it during the conference. Danforth also Is likely to be a participant in the conference. A House staff aide said Danforth "will be In the position of trying to hold the Finance Committee's position. But it's such a big amount of money that I don't know how he's going to prevail." The House bill projects that repeal of the completed- tractors end up paying the price to retain Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and other tax breaks that command wider public support In December, the House cleared a tax-revision bill that prohibits use of the completed-contract method.

The House bill would require contractors to report their estimated Income for each year of a contract and pay taxes accordingly. Rep. Fortney H. Stark, was a prime mover of the language in the House bill. He will participate In the House-Senate conference that would To Break Caring Hands Try Chain Of Ik PT Hunger LOCAL HUNGER experts criticize Reagan's Page 8A GOOD WEATHER at hand across most of America.Page 8A towns and sprawling metropolises, sons of carpenters and daughters of Wall Street brokers.

The organizers have not been See HANDS, Page 1 rs Mf' By Bill Smith Of the Post-Oipatch Staff When Debbie Turner and Mark Hester link hands as part of the Hands Across America celebration this afternoon, they will be separated by 130 miles of city asphalt and rural blacktop and by as many as 200,000 people stretching out like a twisting, multicolored rope along the eastern edge of Missouri. The two have never met, and their lives contrast dramatically. But organizers of the huge Memorial Day weekend event hope that for 15 or 20 minutes Turner and Hester will share a common dream. "I hope that the people who participate are touched like they have never been touched before," said William Fleming, Missouri project coordinator. "I hope they look to the right and the left and there are people holding hands as far as they can see.

There will be singing, but other than that, I'd guess it would be fairly quiet along the line. "And there are going to be gaps. But the gaps wiH be symbolic of how far we still have to go." Turner, 34, has a farm in Butler County, Mo. She and her two children, Brandl, 6, and Ryan, 9, will travel two hours by bus from their home near Neelyville, to a site In Cape Girardeau County that has been designated as Missouri's "rural mile." Hester, 22, is a resident of Cottage 1710 at Bellefontoiiic Habitation Center in north St. Louis County, a state-run institution for the mentally retarded.

He will join more than 100 other staff members and residents of the center who will come into the line at two sites near the Intersection of Missouri Highway 367 and U.S. Highway 67 and In front of Unity Christ Church at 33 North Skinker Boulevard. "We're trying to help our clients understand that a lot of people don't have homes," said Jim Remington, a psychologist at the center. He organized the center's participation. Turner says her family is active in the American Agriculture Movement.

She is anticipating that the day will be special. "We'll be thinking about the poor people in our country who are hungry, people who we need to feed," Turner said. "And I'll be thinking about my husband. Farming is all he's ever done and all he ever There will be people who cut grass and maybe some people who work In restaurants and some people who work In hospitals. And maybe there will be some policemen and firemen.

"And when it's over, maybe I'll buy a souvenir," he said. "Maybe I'll buy a shirt." Organizers hope the event will help raise more than $50 million for the hungry and homeless In the 7VV Sen. John C. Danforth Looks at state 's welfare der current law would cost about $25.2 billion over the next five years. Roth's list of potential offsets totals about $40 billion.

Repealing the corn-See TAXES. Page 13 Driver Held In Deaths Of Cyclists By Deborah Peterson 01 the Post-Dispatch Staff The driver of a truck that struck and killed three bicyclists and seriously Injured a fourth Saturday near Washington, was charged with Involuntary manslaughter and driving while intoxicated, officials said. The driver, Adam Brian Anderson, 22, of the Norwood Court Mobile Home Park in Washington, was being held Saturday night at the Franklin County Jail in Union. Bail was set at $103,000 by Associate Circuit Judge Joseph Aubuchon. Anderson was charged in warrants with three counts of involuntary manslaughter, authorities said.

He also was charged with driving while intoxicated and failing to drive in a single lane. A pickup driven by Anderson struck and killed two brothers and a friend as they were walking their bicycles along the shoulder of Missouri Highway 47 about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol. Another youth way seriously injured In the accident. The brothers were Identified as Darin Vhllley.

12 anU Robert Whitley, 15, both of 2U! East Springfield Street in Union. The other victim was Dale Sutton, 30, who lived on Route 4 in Union, authorities said. Injured was John Pehle 13, of 101 Kennedy Street in Union. Late Saturday, he was listed in "very serious" condition in the intensive care unit at St. John's- Mercy Hospital in Washington with head wounds, multiple fractures and internal injuries.

Earlier, he had been listed in critical condition. The accident occurred as Sutton and the three youths were pushing their bicycles south on the east shoulder of the highway, against the flow of traffic. Authorities say they believe the youths were not riding their bicycles because of a gravel shoulder on the narrow section of road. According to the Highway Patrol, Anderson was driving north in his pickup when it left the highway and struck a guard rail. The truck traveled 130 feet along the inside of the See CYCLISTS, Page IS can ministry announcing that Hastie was ordered out did not elaborate except to say the U.S.

Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, had been notified. On Friday night, the United States and Britain vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for mandatory sanctions against the white-led government for its raids into Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. But both countries expressed willingness to condemn South Africa for the attacks. In Washington, the State Department said Friday that Potgeiter would have 10 days to leave the United States and that no replacement would be permitted.

"We trust that this action will make clear to the South African government that the United States cannot See SOUTH AFRICA, Page 13 American League Calgary 3 New York 7 California 6 Toronto 9 Cleveland 6 Wayne CrosslinPost-Dispatch headquarters in University City Friday. They were assembling supplies to hand out on the line Sunday. Staff member LaVonne Downey (left) and regional field director Kirk Hanlin at work at the Hands Across America South Africa Retaliates, Expels American Official Board President Pushes Hard For School Tax Propositions AIDS Rate In Uganda: 'A Sort Of Chernobyl' wanted to do. Things have been very hard for him. I know he'd like to be there, but he has to stay back in the fields." Hester said, "It's probably going to make me nervous, but it's going to be fun.

I just want to reach out and do some good. "There will be black people there like me, and there will be white people," he said. "There will be men and women and babies. 26 at the Chernobyl nuclear plant In the Soviet Union. When Carswell was asked if Uganda was experiencing an AIDS epidemic, he replied: "It was an epidemic last year.

It is now a disaster. It Is going to wipe out many, many people here." Carswell Is a physician at Mulago who has been In the country for 18 years. I Uganda Is a country in East Africa with a population of 14 million. It has just ended a five-year civil war that some observers believe may have taken as many as 200,000 lives. Uganda Is still scarred by the rule of dictator Idl Amin, under whose reign a quarter of a million Ugandans may have been killed.

Now doctors See AIDS, Page 13 United States. The Idea for such an event can be traced back to last summer, but planning began In earnest In February. Besides people like Turner and Hester, organizers hope that the cross-country humart chain through 16 states will be a patchwork of Americana a collection of the poor and the wealthy, the strong and the sick, the very young and the very old; people from small a special campaign commercial at the end of Mahoney's message: and don't forget to vote yes for Proposition 1 and 2 on June 3." Propositions 1 and 2 are the school system's latest effort to convince voters that city students are making academic progress and deserve more money to do even better. This year's price tag for continuing the "March Toward Excellence," as the campaign slogan goes. Is $1.19 for each $100 of assessed valuation.

"We see this as the culmination of many things, which have come together over campaigns of many years," Mahoney said In a recent Interview. "Little by little, we See SCHOOLS, Page I OumrncrV Travel WHAT'S TO DO? If you are aking yourself that question, you'll find an entire catalog of things to do, places to go and sights to see In Missouri and Illinois this summer in the Travel Section, Pages 1-7K Compiled From News Services JOHANNESBURG, South Africa The Foreign Ministry said Saturday that it was expelling the senior U.S. military attache In South Africa in retaliation for the expulsion of the top South African defense attache In Washington, ordered Friday. The United States already had announced that It planned to recall Its attache, Col. Robert Hastie, for consultations.

The State Department announced Friday that it was recalling Hastie. At the same time, it said the top South African military attache In Washington, Brigadier Alexander Potgelter, had been ordered out as a protest against his country's raids Monday Into three nearby countries. The statement from the South Afri NHL Playoffs Montreal 4 National League ft 1986, Lot Angeles Timet KAMPALA, Uganda An AIDS epidemic Is sweeping through the most populous regions of southern Uganda. Researchers in the country say they believe that 10 percent of the sexually active population In the area women as well as men may be infected with the deadly virus. Doctors studying the disease at Kampala's Mulago Hospital describe the situation as "a disaster" and compare it to a nuclear accident.

"It Is as If an entire segment of the population here had been irradiated," Dr. J. Wilson Carswell, one of the researchers, said recently. "What we've got here Is a sort of Chernobyl," referring to the accident April mi Weather Showers Official forecast for St Louis and vicinity: Mostly cloudy Sunday with a II percent chance of thunder-showers; high 71-75. Chance for showers early Memorial Day, then clearing with a high in the low 71s.

OttMr WtoMW eo IA HELPING HANDS By Dale Singer Of tht Pott-Ditpatch Staff With the tax campaign for the city schools entering its final week. School Board President John P. Maho-ney Is away from his phone a lot. But even when he's on the street hustling for votes, he's pushing for sup- port on the phone as well, trying to get every vote he can. Callers who miss Mahonev at Mahoney home are greeted by the ever-present answering machine, with Local ARENA BLUES: The futures of The Arena and the football Cardinals are becoming closely Intertwined as the battle over a domed stadium continues.

Page 1C SENIOR OLYMPICS: The time for senior athletes to show their younger colleagues a thing or two is here again the four-day Senior Olympics, beginning Monday. Page ID MX- Detroit 4 Oakland 1 Kansas City 7 Chicago 6 Milwaukee 6 Minnesota 3 Chicago 4 Houston 3 Montreal 7 San Francisco 4 Cincinnati 4 Pittsburgh 2 Details in SportsSection Inside Books 4C Business 1-8G Classified Ads 2-441 Editorials 2-3C Everyday M2H LifeStyle MIL MusicThe Arts 5C News Analysis 1, IC Obituaries HP Real Estate MM St. Louis M2D Sports MsE Travel 1-K Sports PENSKE'S RACE: Roger Penske is the at the Indianapolis 500. Page IE. r0T DISPATCH witrxmaiao or.