St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 55

Monday Page Page Police Moving Games Not Of Peace 0 Young baseball players from Belgium, Holland and Curacao, an island north of Venezuela, meet local players in the International Youth Baseball Tournament. CapL Bobby Henry, Illinois State Police commander in the Metro East area, is pleased with his new "state of the art-headquarters in Collinsville. Columnist Harry Levins, a child of thrifty parents, thinks that a society that markets throwaway cameras and designer trash bags is asking for trouble. SECTION Aug. 17, 1987 No.

Madison County Tax For Light-Kail System tract prohibit Bi-State from charging any "direct or Indirect" costs associated with the light-rail system to the transit district. But Sturgess said that wording was changed to leave out any reference to "indirect" costs. "There's no way that we could guarantee that they would not pay for any indirect costs, like my salary, for instance," Sturgess said. "General overhead costs would be impossible to separate." The contract with the Madison County district is for a period of three as Metro Link, will run 18 miles between East St. Louis and Lambert Field, via downtown St.

Louis. Under the current proposal, the system would not serve Madison County, although planners are considering such an expansion in future years. Plans call for federal funds to pay for the estimated $250 million in construction costs. If federal funds are allocated as expected, construction of the system would begin in 1989 and be completed by 1992. Sturgess said the transit district had asked that the clause in the con Thomas Sturgess, spokesman for Bi-State, said the agreement was reached between the transit committee of the Bi-State board and officials from the transit district Sturgess said the Bi-State board is expected to approve the contract at its meeting Friday.

The transit district board will act on it at its Aug. 27 meeting, a spokesmen said. William R. Haine, board chairman of the transit district, had insisted on including the clause in the contract because he believed that Madison County residents would be forced to By Safir Ahmed 01 the Post-Dispatch Staff Taxpayers in Madison County will not have to pay any costs associated with the proposed light-rail system for the bi-state area under a contract agreement reached this month, officials said. A clause in the proposed three-year contract between the Madison County Transit District and the Bi-State Development Agency specifically bars the agency from charging the transit district for any costs "directly" associated with the light-rail system.

7 Lire fe VHWs li -J fi: TU" i i pick up part of the operating costs. Haine estimated the operating costs for the system will be between $10 million and $12 million. Haine said Friday that he was satisfied with the agreement reached with the transit committee of the Bi-State board. "We are grateful to the transit committee for respecting our concerns," Haine said. Haine added that other than the light-rail clause, the contract is essentially the same as the current one.

The light-rail system, to be known Rt. 50 Bypass Not Cause Of Failure, Businesses Say SPORTS Pages 5-6 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH years and calls for the district to pay an estimated $1.2 million each year to the agency, Sturgess said. The money would be for bus services within the county and between the county and St. Louis.

A similar contract agreement with the St. Clair County Transit District is also expected to be approved by the Bi-State board on Friday, Sturgess said. The 3-year contract calls for the district to pay Bi-State about $3 million each year for services within the See RAIL, Page 2 Project Waiting On Bonds By Robert Kelly Of the Post-Dispatch Staff A rating on bonds to finance the proposed Collinsville convention center is expected to be issued by Standard 4 Poor's Corp. within the next 10 days, officials say. Vic Betta, chairman of Collins-ville's Convention Center Authority, said two analysts from Standard Poor's in New York spent more than a day in Collinsville last week getting information on the center's proposal.

Betta said he was told a bond rating could be issued this week. "But I've heard that sort of thing before," he added. "We'll just have to wait and see." He said he hoped the bonds would be rated at least a BBB grade. "Anything BBB and above is an investment-grade rating," he said. He noted that the convention center proposed might not be a viable project with anything lower than an investment-grade bond rating.

The convention center would be built in the Eastport Plaza development area at Inter-states 55-70 and Illinois Route 157, next to the Collinsville Hilton Inn. Plans for the center have been plagued by delays in the last year, but Betta said he hoped that the visit by Standard Poor's representatives would get things moving. A convention center in Collinsville See CENTER, See Page 2 Burned Shops May Be Razed By Robert Kelly Of the Post-Dispatch Staff The fire-damaged building that housed the Mary Ann Shop and Blan-quart Jewelers in downtown Ed-wardsville apparently will have to be torn down, officials say. Fire Chief Steve Deist said he hoped the building at 134 North Main Street would be torn down this week. "It's really not so much a fire hazard now as it is a structural hazard," he said.

"I think we've taken reasonable precautions to protect the building, but it probably would be too expensive to repair." Donna Ely of the Edwardsville Public Works Department agreed. "The structural damage was too intense to be repaired," she said. A fire Aug. 9 that started on the top floor of the old two-story building extensively damaged both businesses and injured three firemen before being brought under control. The fire rekindled briefly a day later.

Traffic has been restricted to two lanes on North Main Street around the building while officials await final word on tearing down the structure. "One insurance company is still not decided, but apparently both (business) owners want to tear it down," See FIRE, Page 2 Harold Washington, Illinois AFL-CIO President Robert Gibson and Chicago Mercantile Exchange chief Leo Me-lamed, according to the Sun-Times. On his third wedding anniversary in June, Sun-Times President and Publisher Robert E. Page received a pair of antique wedding dolls from Thompson. Page said he regarded the gift as personal, not political.

He said he and his wife are personal friends of the Thompsons "and we exchange gifts often." "I accepted his gift as a personal gesture," Page said. The Sun-Times endorsed Thompson's re-election campaign, but Page said the newspaper has often disagreed with him editorially. til- PL, WJ1 1 plIKGEB I'! il'V Restate I -iV it. Story by Robert Goodrich Photos by Gary Bohn Of the Post-Dispatch Staff A new stretch of U.S. Route 50 opened last Oct 1, bypassing Trenton, Aviston, Breese and Beckemeyer.

Businesses along the old route show a puzzling mixture of prosperity and failure. Even in areas experiencing the most difficulty, people say it can't be blamed on the highway bypass. "We've got new businesses going up here," said Breese Mayor Wilfrid Hilmes. He was filling in for an absent employee at his Wil-Char Restaurant, managed by his wife Charlotte. The Route 50 bypass has not harmed Breese, Hilmes said.

"In fact I think it has helped us." Breese has a new supermarket, dental office, floral shop and subdivision, he said. He estimated Breese has 3,800 people, up from 3,500 in the 1970 census. "Anybody you talk to from Breese will tell you Breese is a growing town," Hilmes said. He attributes it to a good atmosphere, low city utility rates and good police protection. "They (the police) don't give a ticket every time somebody goes five miles over the speed limit," he said.

Bob Knue says his Wally's Drive In Restaurant in Breese has lost little business due to the highway bypass. "I get a lot of (Carlyle) Lake traffic," he said. When the bypass is extended to bypass Carlyle, the effect on business may be more serious, Knue said. In Trenton, things are not so rosy. "We've got eight empty buildings in one block," said Bernard Brefeld.

Among them is the 55-foot-wide, 150-foot-long building he owns next to his gas, heating and plumbing business. For decades it housed Brefeld Hardware, but the store recently went out of business. It had been operated by a nephew, Kenneth Brefeld. Bernard Brefeld said he is working hard to get one or more new businesses to take over the empty building. He said people tend to blame business failures in Trenton on competition from chain discount stores, especially large malls like those at St.

Clair Square in nearby Fairview Heights. "They're tough competition, sure," he said. "But if you work at it, you can lick anything." Most of the reasons given these days for failing in business are just excuses, Brefeld added. The real rea- TOP LEFT: U.S. Highway SO, which used to run through the center of Breese, now is a four-lane bypass road on the northern edge of town.

This view looks north on Walnut Street toward the highway overpass. TOP RIGHT: Bernard Brefeld, a businessman in Trenton, another town bypassed by the new highway, recently had to close down the hardware store he owns. ABOVE: "For Sale" signs are common in the storefronts along the old U.S. 50 route through Trenton. LEFT: Breese Mayor Wilfrid Hilmes says his community has grown since the bypass opened last fall.

son is people aren't willing to work hard enough or long enough or aren't smart enough for success, he said. Brefeld added that for a time Trenton police added to business people's problems by issuing citations to downtown customers for every minor infraction they could find. "I guess I'm an old griper," he said with a grin. But Brefeld is optimistic about the future. "We've got a nice clean town," he said.

"We've got a good town." Mayor Herbert Schlarmann was out of town on vacation, but City Clerk Carol Metzger said some of the See HIGHWAY, Page 4 Governor Said To Have Spent $40,000 On Gifts For Supporters Gov. James R. Thompson personally selected and bought the gifts and later was reimbursed from his campaign fund. He declined to discuss the practice. CHICAGO (AP) Silver dishes and junk jewelry were among the $40,000 in gifts Gov.

James R. Thompson purchased with campaign funds for aides, supporters and friends, a newspaper reported in its Sunday editions. The $40,000 that Thompson spent on 233 gifts purchased within the past year are a "small amount to thank people" for their work on the campaign and for the millions in campaign funds that they helped the governor raise during the period, said Kim Fox, executive director of Thompson's campaign fund. "It's something they always will remember and appr'ate," she told the Chicago Sun-Times in an interview. Thompson, who personally selected and bought the gifts and later was reimbursed from the campaign fund, declined to discuss the practice, the newspaper reported.

Internal Revenue Service rules say that politicians are free to use campaign funds for personal expenses, but must pay income taxes on any money spent in that manner. The most costly single expenditure by Thompson was a $475 antique silver cocktail set bought as a birthday present for Rosemont Mayor Donald E. Stephens, said the Sun-Times, whose reporters examined invoices provided ffy Ms. Fox. "Holy Christ, I didn't know that," Thompson gave the most gifts four, totaling $1,175 to Alexander Lerner, executive administrator of the Illinois State Medical Society, the Sun-Times said.

Lerner's gifts two birthday presents, a Christmas present and a wedding anniversary present included a jewelry box and two oil paintings, according to the newspaper. The medical society contributed $67,250 toward the governor's reelection last year, one of the largest donations from a single source, the newspaper said. Other recipients of Thompson's gifts include Lt. Gov. George Ryan, State Sen.

James "Pate" Philip of suburban Elmhurst, Chicago Mayor Stephens said when informed of his gift's price. "Well, that's nice to hear." Stephens said he guessed the gift was in appreciation for his fund-raising efforts on Thompson's behalf during a campaign visit by President Ronald Reagan. State Sen. Adeline Geo-Karis, R-Zion, received one of the least expensive of Thompson's expenditures, a $45 antique elephant vase and floral arrangement. "I'm one of the governor's biggest supporters," she said.

"He knows he doesn't have to ply me with expensive gifts.".